Ace and The Dragon
by kittyface27
Summary: When the Whitebeards dock at an island infested with dragons, Ace ends up saving and bringing a baby one back with him. He had no idea how much she could change his life! Rated T for mild swearing and violence. But lots of fluff as well!
1. The Baby Dragon

**So I sorta wrote this fic in 5 days, and it was originally supposed to be around 6,000 words, but nooo, I had so much fun writing it that it got up to 30,000+ words! It's super fluffy at first, but eventually, there's drama and action! I'm rating it T for now, since there is violence and swearing. If anyone reads the darker parts and thinks I should change it to mature, I will. Enjoy!~**

The moment the crew on the Moby Dick found out they were nearing an island that wasn't on the log pose and was rumored to have dragons living on it, the one place left over in the world that anyone knew dragons were still living at, they were ecstatic. Even Whitebeard had never seen a dragon and he was old and had been in many places, so even he was looking forward to it.

There were a large group of the crew who werent going to get off the ship. They were either afraid or just not interested. Some were planning on going hunting, even if they were only a few. Dragons, dead or alive, would probably be very valuable.

Ace had a backpack on to collect interesting things. He hoped to find egg shells. He didn't agree with the others hunting them, but he couldnt stop them since some of them were the commanders. Rakuyo, Kingdew, Fossa and Speed Jiru were planning on hunting them. Some of their division members wished to as well.

Marco was planning on flying around and looking for some, just to see. He wasn't planning on hunting. Everyone was just going to explore or look for dragons to just observe or get photos with the few den dens with cameras.

When the ship saw the island as a speck in the distance, they were all on their toes in excitement. They looked carefully to see if they could see any dragons flying around it. They had no idea how many could be on the island. If there even were any. It could just be a myth or legend told long ago and just passed down.

There was a volcano that they could see, and it was a big island with what looked like a dense forest. There was a long beach as well, stretching across the part of the island they could see. They wondered how many types of dragons there were with an ecosystem as diverse as this island seemed to be.

There were also rocky areas with what looked like caves connected to the jagged cliff against the sea. Namur looked forward to exploring the caves since he could breathe underwater. Were there water dragons? He couldn't wait.

"Alright, everyone needs to be back by sundown," the captain commanded. Everyone let out quiet agreements. Suddenly, no one wanted to make any noise. The island was so quiet. Ace and Marco were the first to get off the ship, Marco flying away in phoenyx form. He, Ace and Jozu were the ones most safe on the island. Marco could heal if attacked, Ace couldn't be stabbed or hit, and Jozu could harden himself into diamond.

Everyone had the possibility of death or severe injuries. Ace walked off into the foliage, using his observation haki to sense if anything was near him. He saw the first dragons immediately. Tiny little four legged pink dragons scurried away from him and into the bushes around him, making chirping noises.

Ace grinned. There really _were _dragons here! He could hear the chirping of the tiny dragons around him, and saw some little furry dragons climbing up the trees like squirrels, chasing each other. Were they unafraid of Ace? If that was true and they were unafraid of all the humans, that would be bad for them.

He didn't see anymore for a while, but he did hear a loud, angry roar that caused little bird-like dragons to flee from the trees. Ace hid behind the trunk of a tree, sensing a big one somewhere near. He masked his presence, the trees around him rustling as a big dragon rushed through the forest. He peeked his head to the side to briefly see a black, spiked tail.

He felt something on his arm and saw some very small dragons flying around like little butterflies. He wish he'd brought a jar so he could keep some or just show the others and free them afterwards. One landed on his finger he lifted up in the air. It crawled around on his finger tip before it flew away.

This was probably the most interesting island Ace had ever been on.

As he walked through the trees, he came across more little critters, finally seeing some animals other than dragons. Food sources most likely. He saw boars, deer, a bear, rabbits, real birds and squirrels.

Ace finally left the foliage and walked out to a field of long grass and flowers. He didn't walk through it, not knowing what was in it. He may have encountered little and harmless dragons, but they would not all be harmless, and he didn't want to chance being stung or stepping on one.

He walked around it, seeing rustlings in the grass, but unable to see what was making them. The pirate heard trilling noises from the grass, and watched in amazement as a dragon the size of a eagle dive down and snatch up a rabbit from the grass with its talons and fly off. Two more came and soon the grass was moving from the scurries of escaping critters.

Little rodents ran across Ace's shoes, but he wasn't bothered by them. A few dragons the size of house cats chased after them out of the grass and right past Ace's legs. He smiled again and walked on, heading towards caves he could see, curious to see some bigger dragons.

When he suddenly felt the presence of a _massive _creature, he ducked down into the dense bushes beside him, peeking out to see a dragon that could easily fill up half of the Moby fly past him and into the top of the volcano. Ace wondered how something so huge could fly. It was amazing.

He could see if was carrying a bear in his talons. It was red with thick scales, a dragon you would expect to see. Not one of the little furry ones he'd seen an abundance of.

Well, Ace wouldn't be going into the highest caves. He continued walking towards the ones near the bottom of the mountain. It had grass along the sides, so the volcano hadnt erupted in a while.

The first cave Ace came across was lined with ice on the inside. Ace didn't want to melt the ice with his natural warmth, so he didn't enter. He just tried to see inside, but it was too dark. There was nothing living in this cave.

The next cave he came across was lined with greenery and leaves. There was a bright blue light in the back of the cave, though not bright enough to see what it was coming from. He slowly walked inside, feeling a small life form, thinking it was just another critter. He lit up the cavern with his fire and saw there were flowers and vines covering the walls. It was beautiful.

He came closer to the blue light and grinned in awe at what he saw. It was a little blue fire surrounding a soft nest that had a baby dragon in it, who was crying out with sounds like a newborn kitten would make. Ace knew he should leave since the mother to this baby wouldn't like him being near it, but he was too curious.

"Hey, little guy. Where's your mama?" The baby mewled out again, opening its wide eyes at him. It was all black besides a stripe of white that started at the tip of its snout and down its back. Ace could see from the light of the blue flame keeping it warm that it had feathers. It was cute and would no doubt become beautiful.

Ace couldn't help but reach down to it with his warm fingers. The baby dragon reached its front legs up to his finger and started chewing on him with its very small and rounded baby teeth. Either it was too trusting or it was clear that Ace was not going to hurt it.

"You're very cute, but I'm gonna leave before your mama comes and gets mad," Ace said, slowly pulling his hand away. It cried out again, like it was upset the warm hand was leaving.

And speak of the devil, Ace heard and felt a presence behind him. An angry one. He quickly turned around to see a dragon the size of a medium sized dog standing in the entrance of the cave, screeching at him. It was all black like the baby with a white stripe on it as well. The feathered wings fluttered angrily, trying to intimidate Ace.

The young man wasn't afraid of it, but put his hands up in submission. The dragon was much shorter than Ace, so he lowered himself to look smaller. He'd been in a situation like this back home. A baby bear and its mother was very angry finding Ace near it. He'd made himself look less threatening and it had worked to let him run away. He had refused to kill it and leave the baby alone, so he didn't go back to that den again.

He inched his way away from the crying baby dragon and against the wall, moving slowly. The mother dragon raced past him until it was behind him. She ran at him in a threatening way and Ace ran away, even though it would be unable to hurt him. He still heard it screeching at him until he was a good distance from the cave. He could see after turning around that the dragon was holding a rabbit in its mouth, probably to feed to the baby Ace had seen. It had been very cute, and Ace wished he could have gotten a picture.

Ace explored the island a bit more, the little pink marks on his fingers faded from the chewing teeth that Ace had kept tangible for the little baby. He came across two black dragons fighting each other, violently. There was blood on both of them, and they both had horns, while a smaller dragon of clearly the same species watched from afar. Ace almost laughed. They were fighting over the female.

But he hadnt given away his presence, for he just knew those two dragons would put aside their differences momentarily to attack Ace. By the time it was getting dark out, Ace had been able to find some egg shells and carefully put them in his backpack. He also found a footprint pushed into a block of ice that seemed to be unable to melt. Even from his warmth holding it. A good souvenir.

He hurried back to the ship, coming across some of the crew walking back. Many were injured in some way. Only a few carcusses were brought, and they were all relatively small for big dragons. He felt bad for them.

Someone had brought a large jar and it was full of the little butterfly dragons, along with some other insect like ones who were crawling around inside.

The ship was a bit off the cliff by now, and everyone walked across the plank and onto the ship. There had been no dragon attacks on the ship, though a few large water dragons swam around the underside of it, rocking it side to side briefly before swimming off again and diving deeper.

It wouldn't be considered an attack, but some small dragons had flown onto the yardarms and chewed on the ropes before they were chased off easily. Ace walked across the plank and onto the ship, supervising and helping the injured men to the infirmary. There were many. One was so severe that three of his fingers were was missing. Poor guy.

A few had severe burns across their bodies, but most were either lightly injured or perfectly fine. There was a pile of dragons laying on the deck, most still in good condition but clearly dead. Then Ace froze at one that Teach threw down.

It was the mama dragon. Ace was sure it was the same one. He could tell. He suddenly turned around and ran off the ship. That baby would die if it was left by itself. Marco called to him before chasing after his friend.

"Where are you going?! It's getting dark out!" Marco shouted to him, huffing in irritation before changing into his phoenyx form to fly after him at a quicker speed. He clamped his talons on Ace's shoulder, knowing it wouldn't hurt him.

Ace stopped and looked up at him. "I'm going to go get a baby dragon. Teach killed its mother, I'm not gonna leave it," Ace explained very seriously. He was rarely this serious.

"What?" Marco asked in disbelief. "You can't raise a dragon yourself, yoi," the commander said seriously.

"Why not?"

"It's a dragon, yoi. What makes you think you can take care of it?" Ace huffed.

"Well, it has more of a chance with me than alone in a cave," Ace argued. Marco sighed at his stubbornness. He finally conceded but insisted on flying Ace there. The dragons in the forest during the day were harmless, but they didn't know about night. Ace directed him where the cave was, and they saw below them some dragons that were glowing colorful marks. _Amazing,_ both of them thought.

Ace and Marco landed outside of the cave. The blue flames in the back were gone, making Ace positive that dead dragon had been the mama. He lit himself on fire to light up the cave, hearing the crying of the baby.

When he got to it, it was shivering in a little ball. It was very cold. "Hey again, little guy," Ace said kindly, warming the temperature around him so the little baby was warmer. Ace gently picked it up out of its small nest and into his big hands, warming them.

The baby cried again, gripping onto Ace's fingers, it's feathered tail wrapped around the young man's left wrist. "I'm gonna take you someplace safe," he said kindly. "Okay, Marco."

Ace was lifted, still holding the dragon in his hands securely. He wondered if it had ever flown before, since it was looking around with wide eyes. At the ground, the dark sky, everywhere. It chirped loudly when they were descending and set on the ship.

Ace made sure to keep its dead mother out of view. There were loud noises everywhere, people talking animatedly about what they'd seen. Some had to constantly shoo away birdlike dragons flying around their heads, cawing at each other. They were getting less amazing and more annoying.

No one really seemed to notice what was in Ace's hands, and no one could hear its mewls, confused it seemed. The dragon corpses were dragged inside, put in one of the rooms. The ones with scales, most of them actually, would last longer. They would need to skin the furry ones. Including the mama dragon.

Ace knew he shouldn't be mad at Teach for it, since he most likely didn't know she had had a baby to take care of. But he was a bit irritated with the way he was handling the creatures. He sighed, knowing he wouldn't feel the same if they were regular animals.

"Let's get you somewhere more calm, how about that?" Ace said to the little creature in his hands. It looked around everywhere, even the boring hallways to Ace's room. Ace had a feeling it had never left the cave. It seemed so young. He wished there was a dragon manual or something. He'd have to just wing everything, hoping it'd work out.

When they entered Ace's chambers, which was a large bedroom and a small private bathroom with a very small shower, Ace headed towards his big bed. It was nice being a commander. He sat down on the soft surface and set the dragon down on the comforter. It mewled again, trying to drag itself around the bed, curious about its new surroundings. The cave hadnt been the most interesting place, since it was very dark.

Ace ran his finger down its furry spine. It clearly couldn't walk yet, though it was trying its best. He gently picked it up and set it down on its back, trying to figure out if it was a boy or girl. He didn't exactly know dragon anatomy, but couldn't tell at all. He would assume it was a girl since it looked the same as its mother.

"What should your name be?" he wondered. She hadnt really shown any personality traits besides curiosity. Well, he could name her after where she lived. Leafy? No, that sounds stupid. Greeny? No.

Ivy? There were plants growing up the walls of the cave. "How about Ivy? Do you like that name?" Ace asked. Ivy just looked at him with wide eyes. "Yeah, that's a good name," the young man decided. Ivy kicked her feet a little, swaying side to side, trying to get off of her back. Ace gently pushed her left side up so she could twist around back on her furry tummy.

Ace wondered if she'd had the chance to eat that rabbit her mom had brought. Those little teeth probably couldn't bite into the meat easily. He knew birds fed their babies pre chewed food. Ace was definitely not going to pre chew raw meat, so maybe he could get some raw meat and mash it into something soft. Add water maybe, to be like saliva that would made the food more watery. Yeah, that sounded like a good plan.

There was a knock on the door, earning a startled chirp from Ivy. "Hang on," he said quietly, leaving her on the big bed. He opened the door to see Marco looking at him in a stern way. "Hey Marco," Ace said in the most casual voice. Marco walked in past Ace. Ivy cried at him as he approached her.

"You have no idea how to raise a baby, let alone a dragon one. I get why you did it, but we can't have a dragon on the ship, Ace," Marco told him. Ace frowned, more like a pout. "Look at all the injured from this island. Burn victims. All by dragons. We can't have one on the ship and risk hurting anyone."

"I'll train her not to. C'mon, it'll be fine! What, you want me to kill her or something? Cause that's what I'd be doing if I put her back on the island."

Marco looked down at the baby dragon. It was cute, but they had no idea how big it would get. The mother they had killed might not have even been at full size. "You don't know that, Ace. Many animals are abandoned by parents as babies. They adapt by themselves. It will be better to leave her here, in a safe space."

"No." Marco turned around and glared at him in irritation. But Ace was a commander, too. Marco couldn't force him to do or not do things. Only the captain could tell the commanders what to do.

"Fine. We'll ask pops then. Let's go. Bring her with you," Marco said, waiting by the open bedroom door. Ace huffed but walked to the bed and picked Ivy up. She grabbed his thumb with her small legs, liking the warmth Ace was providing.

"We're going to go see a big man. Don't be afraid," Ace said softly, rubbing his thumb under her fuzzy chin. Marco looked at him in surprise. He hadnt heard this tone before. The only time a tone of voice had been similar to this was when Ace talked about his little brother.

Ace pulled Ivy up to his chest, still supporting her with both hands. Marco lead Ace and the dragon out onto deck. People were calming down and getting ready for dinner. Thatch had stayed on the ship, so he had had time to prepare the meal.

Much of the crew were also getting the ship ready to set off. They werent leaving the island today, since it was late and would be dark soon. They were just sailing a fair distance from the island so no critters could board, and no dragons would lay eggs in the sails again. A smaller dragon had laid an egg, but had come back to get it not long after, like it had had second thoughts of leaving it on this big and unknown... _thing._

"Pops, Ace has something he wants to talk to you about," Marco said, gaining the man's attention. Marco looked irritated. Whitebeard looked to his youngest son. He noticed Ace had something in his hands, that sounded like a kitten. Had Ace found a cat somewhere and wanted to keep it? It wouldn't be too bad. They had had a dog before. But when Ace opened his hands, it was most definitely not a cat.

"We killed her mom, and she's just a baby. I don't want to leave her to die by herself on the island," Ace said earnestly, hoping his father would agree. Ace knew he couldn't go against the captain's order and might have to leave Ivy on the island. "Please."

Whitebeard looked at him curiously. Ace hadnt looked this determined in a while. The big man looked down at the baby dragon. He recognized it from the carcass of one of the dragons they'd hunted. Poor baby lost its mother. By them. It made him wonder if any of the dragons they'd hunted had babies. Or worse, _were _babies.

"Do you think you'd be able to raise it?" the captain asked curiously. Ace nodded his head vehemently and told him that he could do it. "Gurararara. Fine, son. We haven't had any children on the ship before." Marco looked angry.

"Pops! Look at all the injured men that came back from the island! This baby might be small now, but she could become dangerous!" Marco shouted. Whitebeard and Ace both looked surprised at his outbursts. Marco _never _shouted.

"Did something happen on the island, son?" he asked.

Marco sighed. "I saw some pretty gruesome things out there. Some of them were very violent, ripping apart other dragons."

"Son, that happens with many animals that are _not _on this island. Besides, as a baby, Ace might be able to raise her to behave. Who knows, she might become an asset some day. We'll give her a chance. And if, when she's older, she becomes too wild to be safe, we can always try and sail back here," Whitebeard reasoned. Marco looked down, looking defeated. He knew some of what the captain had said were true.

"Fine," he said and walked away.

Ace spoke again, "I found her in a cave by herself, and when the mother came back, she threatened me, but didn't attack. Just tried to scare me off. Maybe this species is calm. I saw a lot of dragons, pops. It was _amazing! _There were little ones the size of squirrels that just ran right past me, or ignored me. I saw two huge ones, but didn't come into contact with them. Then, I saw three where two males were fighting each other over a female.

"I think that, like regular animals, you cant group them all together. Right?" he asked, both hands now on Ivy, stroking her back with his fingers. He couldn't hear her purring softly, and didn't really notice he was rubbing her gently.

"I agree," the captain said. Ace grinned. "Did you name her?"

Ace nodded. "I named her Ivy. Her home had a bunch of plants grown inside against the walls." Ivy chirped quietly, as if she recognized her new name. Ace wondered how smart dragons were.

Whitebeard leaned down closer as Ace held his warm hands up higher. Ivy was still wrapped around his thumb and wrist. She looked at the giant man and sniffed his huge hand when he brought it closer to the little dragon. But he got too close and she leaned away. Whitebeard smiled at her.

"Welcome to the crew, Ivy."

**The best thing about writing fantasy stories is that you can do whatever you want with the growth, powers and behavior of a creature. It was so fun writing Ivy! Does she count as an OC? Review! **


	2. An Adventure Cut Short

**Another chapter arrives! I seriously cried writing the first dragon scene. It was fun writing about the various dragons! Enjoy~**

Everyone was asleep, a good distance away from the island, when a huge roar sounded and the ship suddenly dipped to one side, throwing everything that wasn't bolted down to the side. Lamps broke, plates fell out of the kitchen cupboards, and bodies were flung off their beds.

Ace was tossed to the side, but luckily didn't land on Ivy, who was sleeping in his hand under the covers to keep her extra warm. The rooms got chilly at night. She woke up from it and started crying under the covers.

Ace swung his feet off the bed with Ivy in his hands. She was scared. Ace needed to go outside to see what was up with that roar. It didn't sound good. He put her back under the covers, where they were too thick to fall off the bed. "I'll be back in a little bit," he said softly before sprinting out of the room, barefoot and in sleep clothes.

He flew down the hall and out onto deck, welcomed by screams of terror. And he saw why. It was the massive dragon he'd seen before that had flown into the volcano. It had landed on one side of the ship that was destroyed under its weight. The railing was gone, and there were indents on the deck from where its massive feet were.

Whitebeard came out soon after Ace, followed by some other commanders. They had told much of the crew to stay inside. The giant man looked up at the dragon, that was at last twice as tall as he was. And it was furious. It roared again and stomped a foot down, snarling at the man.

The moment it opened its mouth, Ace ran in front of it, planning to deflect the fire he was sure it was about to spit. And he was right, through the fire was actually hot to him. It was white and blue fire. Hotter flames than Ace's. But it didn't burn him, it was just hot. He deflected and absorbed it, able to keep the fire from spreading to the deck too much and the sails.

"What do you want, dragon?!" Whitebeard called. The dragon didn't speak back, but swiped at the captain with its clawed feet. He deflected the leg with a quake to its forearm. The dragon hissed at him, clearly in pain.

It sniffed loudly and its eyes turned to the entrance into the interior of the ship. It lunged at the closed door, shredding it into splinters. It then stuck its head as far as it could go into the halls. It roared again before pulling its spiked head out and thrusted its arm inside, looking for something.

Then it clicked to Marco. He sighed and looked down in what could be seen as shame. This dragon was looking for its baby. Its _dead _baby. That they had killed. He made the connection because the baby looked like a smaller version of this one.

"I'll bring you your baby!" Marco called up to it. As if it could understand Marco, it pulled its arm out. It had done a lot of damage to the inside. Ripped apart some of the walls. The others watched nervously. The dragon would no doubt be furious about its baby being killed.

Marco hurried into the ship and pulled the horse sized dragon out. He wished he could do it more gracefully and carefully, but it was quite heavy. When he pulled it out of the interior, he quickly hurried away from it.

What they saw next made them all terribly ashamed of what they'd done. The parent dragon whimpered and touched its baby's dead body, poking it and sniffing it, before it made the most heartbreaking noise. It rubbed its face against its offspring. Tears cascaded down it's scaled face. It licked its dead baby, shaking with whimpers.

"We're sorry, dragon. We didn't know it was a baby," Whitebeard said loudly and sadly, feeling for it. He had had some of his sons die, and that had been excruciating. The dragon snarled at him, pulling its baby closer to it gently. "We will not do anything more to it."

The dragon grew angry again. The captain had admitted that they were the ones to kill the younger one. Though Whitebeard felt bad for the dragon and what they'd done, he wasn't going to let it retaliate and hurt anyone or the ship anymore. He wouldn't kill it, but he'd get it to leave.

When it rushed him, he moved in a way no other person as old as he was could, and sent a quake to it's leg. It roared in pain. "Leave now, dragon!" he boomed. The dragon hissed at him, but was smart enough to know he was bad news. It did light a sail on fire before it gently picked up its baby's body and flew away.

Ace hurried to put it out, as well as Namur, who soaked the sail in water. The flame hadn't damaged it much.

"Commanders, take the dragon corpses back to the island," Whitebeard commanded. He hadnt taken into consideration how the dragons would react to their kin and kind being killed and taken away.

They quickly lowered a few of the little ships to use as lifeboats if necessary and loaded the bodies onto them. Ace got on his striker and Marco turned into his phoenyx form to pull the ships to the island quicker. They wanted to get it done before another one could find them. Namur helped push the water to speed up the boat even more.

They landed on the beach and pulled the very valuable carcusses onto the sand, quickly leaving and heading back to the ship. Looked like they werent going to setting foot on the island again. Not with dragons who had no doubt lost their families. Based on the dragon that had just "visited" them, they cared deeply about their kin.

The three got back on deck to see the damage that had been done, though they couldn't bring themselves to be angry at the creature who caused it. Ace hurried over to Thatch, who was crying into Izo's shoulder. Thatch was the softest commander and, even though he hadnt taken part in the hunting, felt horribly guilty. There were big puddles of water on deck that were the dragon's tears of grief.

"Let us go back to sleep, men. We will repair the ship tomorrow. Get some rest," Whitebeard said wearily. He wondered if it was legend because no one left the island alive if they hunted dragons, too.

The crew all went back to their rooms, ignoring the mess that the tilting of the ship had caused. Ace hurried faster than the others to get back to the baby dragon. When he entered the room, he heard frantic crying from a lump under the blankets. The young man quickly pulled it off of the baby and stroked her head.

"Sorry about that," Ace said quietly. "Let's go back to sleep now." He put Ivy on his chest to keep her warm and comfortable. This time, Ace did hear the purring she made, and it caused him to smile.

-x-

Ace woke up to quiet rumbling noises, and didn't know what they were coming from. He looked to both sides, but there was no one there. Then he heard the rumbling again and looked in front of him. It was Ivy's tummy grumbling. He chuckled.

"You hungry? Me too. Let's go get some food," Ace said as he picked her up to set her down on the blankets while he got up to change. Well, to change his bottoms. He just discarded the sleep shirt he'd been wearing. He did find a long sleeved shirt he never wore and tore it into long strips, and tied them around his chest like a sash. Ivy watched him from the bed, and chirped when she was picked up and set into the sash like someone would wear for a baby human.

The furry dragon snuggled into him, and gave him one lick on his chest with a rough tongue. Ace smiled. She was so cute and sweet. He wondered how everyone would react to her, and how she would react to them. He hadn't shown her to anyone last night, and Marco had been nice enough to bring in Ace's dinner and a small piece of raw chicken that ace mashed up with his hands, though it felt disgusting. Ivy had eaten it with no problem, so Ace seemed to be right about the meat needing to be softer for her baby teeth. She hadnt teethed on him again.

As Ace walked down the hall towards the dining room, he encountered some confused pirates, wondering what was in the sash. It was moving slightly, so the curious men knew it was something alive. But Ace told them they'd find out later when they asked about whatever was held against Ace's chest.

Ivy stuck her head out of the sash, looking at the surroundings and then at Ace. She seemed to like him, which Ace was glad of. He wondered what she thought of the absence of her mother. The dragon's body was back on the island now, so there was no chance of Ivy seeing it.

When he entered the galley, he smelled the delicious food around him, but instead of going straight to the commander's table, he headed to the kitchen and freezer to get Ivy some food. He took out some raw chicken from the fridge and defrosted it with his hand, and then got to mushing it down with one of the bigger forks from the drawers. He added a bit of water, just a little, to make it more liquidy for the dragon.

Thatch got up to come ask what Ace was doing in his kitchen. The pirates besides the cooks didn't usually go in the area or stole food since they'd face a very angry commander. But Thatch saw Ace... cooking? Why was he mashing a chicken breast into disgusting and soggy meat? Then he added some water into the bowl he put the mushed raw meat in. What the hell was he doing?

"Yo, Ace. What are you doing?" Thatch asked. Then he noticed the sash and whatever was in it was moving around.

"Making breakfast for our newest member," Ace said with a smile. He knew Thatch would be excited about a baby dragon being on the ship. Thatch looked confused at his words until Ace pulled the top of the sash away a bit to show the little black dragon. The cook gasped.

"Awww! It's so cute!" he exclaimed. Ace chuckled and told him to quiet down since he was attracting everyone's attention. Thatch watched, not upset, when Ace put Ivy on the counter in front of the mush. Ace wasn't at all surprised with Thatch's reaction. He was grinning with sparkling eyes as Ivy chowed down. She scarfed everything down very quickly.

"Well, he was pretty hungry, wasn't he?" Thatch asked, still with that enlightened expression on his face.

"She. I named her Ivy. Marco isn't happy about it, but pops let me keep her, thankfully."

"Why do you have her? Did you steal her off the island?" the cook asked in a whisper, as if he were sharing a secret with Ace. He was surprised when the freckled young man frowned sadly. "What's wrong?"

Ace replied quietly, "Does she look familiar at all to you?"

Thatch frowned, trying to figure out what Ace was meaning. Then Thatch remembered the dragons they had hunted. There was one that had looked exactly like Ivy, only bigger. "Her mom," Thatch said quietly.

Ace nodded, but then smiled when Ivy started making hiccups. "Don't eat so fast, silly girl," Ace said fondly. Then he blinked twice when Ivy started squirming and moving her front legs like she was dragging herself to the other side of the counter. Thatch watched in interest as well.

Ace grinned, though, when she straightened her legs up and shakily rose to her feet. She toddled a few steps forward shakily before she seemed to trip and fall forward, her back feet flailing. But Ace caught her before she fell onto the counter completely.

"Good job!" Ace encouraged. The baby dragon made a trilling noise, and relaxed into the sash Ace was putting her in. They could both hear purring. Thatch almost squealed at how cute she was. "Somebody's tired," Ace said quietly as Ivy yawned, exposing her short and rounded teeth, before she snuggled in closer and fell asleep.

"That was the cutest thing I've ever seen," Thatch said cheerily. "Time for _you _to eat, daddy dragon." Ace blushed and glared at him.

"Don't call me that," Ace grumbled. Thatch raised both hands in a peaceful gesture, following the young man when he walked to their table.

Ace finally noticed the vibe of the big room. It was somber. He assumed it was because of what happened last night. It had been hard to watch. Ace could pinpoint the ones who had carried the carcuses to the ship. They all looked sad or just angry. With themselves probably. The one who had killed the baby had his head in his hands, his friend rubbing his back sadly.

He saw Teach eating just fine, even though he had been one of the hunters to bring back their prizes. Ace frowned at it slightly, before he sat down and turned his attention to the food in front of him. He stacked food on his plates, since he was usually given multiple plates instead of making a mess with all his food piled and overflowing on one plate.

Ivy stayed asleep through the motions of him collecting food, and he said nothing about the mysterious sash on his torso. Everyone stared at him, but he was too busy chowing down to notice all the attention. Haruta cleared his throat. Ace looked up at him, a pancake hanging out of his mouth. Haruta moved his gaze down to the shash and back at Ace's face. _Spill the beans, _the look said.

Ace was going to tilt the sash forward while he chewed his second pancake, but Ivy woke up and revealed herself first, by quickly reaching up and pulling the pancake out of Ace's mouth and into the sash, chewing it hungrily. Thatch made a very unmanly squeal.

"What the hell is that?" Izo asked. It had been so quick that the others hadnt gotten a good look at the creature against Ace's chest, devouring the pancake. Ace took it away from the dragon, not knowing what was good for her to eat, earning a whining noise from her.

"Only mushy food for you until you get bigger," Ace said. He finally showed the others by pulling the little furry and feathery body completely out of the sash and holding it in his warm hands. Everyone's' eyes widened, some dropping food off their forks or out of their gaping mouths.

"A dragon?! What are you doing with that here?" Haruta practically demanded. "Why didn't you tell us?" he whined.

"She's the newest member of the crew. This is Ivy," he said holding her out for everyone to see. She wrapped her arms around Ace's thumb, something she did a lot whenever she was held by the fire man. Whitebeard laughed at his children's' expressions. Ace tucked Ivy back into the sash, where she stayed, blinking widely up at Ace as he continued eating again. "I'm gonna raise her," the young man explained simply.

"But, where's her mother?" Juzo questioned. Ace had a feeling Ivy might somehow understand Ace's words, so he just motioned a line across his throat to show that Ivy's mama was dead.

"She'll be staying with us for an extended period of time." Ace grinned as he ate his breakfast, Ivy watching up at him. While she was laying on her back in the sash, she licked her furry feet. Despite being a dragon, Ivy looked more like a cross between a bird and some kind of cat. She had no visible ears, but she had pawlike feet. If toes on a cat's paw were longer and more spread apart, with a small thumb, those would be Ivy's little feet. They had small toe pads like cats did as well.

Based on the size of her mother, Ivy wasn't going to grow too big. He wondered how her specific species of dragon protected itself. Surely they had to have some sort of defense. He looked forward to seeing one.

When whitebeard stood up, everyone in the massive room fell quiet. They wondered what pops was going to say as he seemed to make eye contact with each and every one of his sons. He looked down and across to Ace, who got the message and stood up. Though Thatch didn't like it, Ace stood up on the table, which had already been cleared of food, and cleared his throat.

"We have a new family member. I'd like you all to respect her and not touch her unless you ask me first," Ace said loud enough so his voice echoed to the hundreds of pirates. They were all curious about "her". They couldn't see any new women on the ship, so they were confused until Ace reached into the mysterious sash and pulled out the little dragon. He held her up in the air, wrapped around his thumb again.

Everyone gasped or just looked shocked. Ace took a _live BABY _dragon off the island? Didn't he learn anything from last night?! But no one made any outburst. Ace clearly had the captain's permission, and who were they to criticize or be suspicious about the choice by a man who saved them each in some way or another?

They trusted Whitebeard, so they trusted that it wasn't detrimental to the crew to have the baby dragon with them.

"She's still a baby, so no one but the commanders are allowed to touch her, and even the commanders should ask me first," Ace said firmly. Everyone looked at him strangely. Ace was never so strict like this. He hated rules, though he did the minimum to obey them. He also was never very bossy with his division, though he got them to follow his commands.

So for him to strictly tell everyone not to touch the baby was a bit different. But they wouldn't touch the baby dragon for wrath of Ace and some of the commanders. Thatch kept trying to get a better look at the dragon, who Ace lowered to put in his sash. "Everyone understand?" Ace called finally.

Everyone nodded or affirmed his words. Ace grinned, thanked everyone, and then sat back down on the table. But the captain didn't resume his seating, and said very seriously, "We must repair the ship as best as we can before we sail away. The mother dragon did a lot of damage to the ship, so we must asses what needs to be fixed."

Despite the damage, no one could bring themselves to hate the mother. None of the pirates were parents, but they couldn't imagine the experience of holding your dead child in front of its killers.

"We should leave as soon as possible. We do not want to be risking the safety of the ship and crew in case another dragon comes to enact revenge." Then he sighed. "However, we need to shoo away the six dragons on deck so we can leave."

Some of the commanders snickered.

"Dismissed," the captain concluded. There was loud noise as the benches were pushed backwards so the pirates could leave the tables. Ace looked down at Ivy, who was staring at him with a sleepy expression.

"How about I take you back into the room to nap while I do work on deck?" Ace asked in a soft voice. Ivy chirped softly, closing her blue eyes and falling asleep. Ace hurried ahead of most of the pirates to put Ivy in their bed to sleep while he would go shoo the dragons and help with repairs.

When they got to the room, Ivy was still sleeping while Ace lowered her to the bed and put a thick blanket over her to keep the baby as warm as he could without Ace there. He wasn't comfortable leaving a lit fire in the room while he wasn't there. If Ivy was trying to teach herself to walk, she could easily knock a fire over and end up burning down the room.

When Ace left the room, he closed it softly, locking it with his only key besides the spare in Whitebeard's room that he stick in a sealed pocket. He hurried up to the deck, seeing and hearing shouts and thuds as the dragons evaded those trying to shoo them away.

The six were all green and covered in spikes, though they didn't seem hostile. They were the size of lions, and they wouldn't leave, even after Ace flared up to scare them away. The other commanders tried to scare them off as well, but the dragons weren't having it. They wanted to stay.

Marco sighed. "Just leave them alone and they'll leave eventually!" he called. So everyone did their best to ignore the dragons as they worked to repair the most damaged parts. Shipwrights brought out the spare wood from the bowels of the ship and started to rebuild the railings, while some others worked to replace the door that was busted open along with the hallway inside.

The six stubborn dragons started causing problems when one of them stole a plank of wood from one of the shipwrights and started to eat it. Another one knocked someone over after pouncing on a shadow. "Someone get pops!" Izo called from one side of the ship. If pops couldn't get the troublesome dragons to leave, then no one could.

Ace chuckled quietly as he saw Whitebeard come out on deck, looking irritated. A dragon ran past him, dragging a plank of wood that had a pirate chasing after it, shouting at it in anger. Whitebeard didn't hesitate to let out haki strong enough for the dragons to feel. The effect was instantaneous as all six suddenly flew away and back to the island, playing with each other while heading back.

"They better have not left any dragon shit on deck," Haruta grumbled. Some around him laughed quietly at the words. That would indeed not be nice to find dragon poop in some random corner of the deck.

Ace was holding one of the planks of wood for the shipwright to replace the original that had been busted by the large dragon's landing. He got a good view of the water and saw a huge face staring up at him. His eyes widened and he gulped at the size of the thing. "Hang on!" Ace warned his partner as the massive sea dragon bumped the ship. "Damn these dragons are troublesome," Ace said, though he wouldn't be against visiting again.

More water dragons and serpents glided towards the Moby dick, worrying many of the members on deck. "Let's get outta here!" someone from Izo's division shouted. Much to the irritation of some of the crew, the repairs had to be cut short as everyone was panicking from being surrounded by giant beasts. Whitebeard tried to calm his fearful sons. They were used to sea kings, but these were different types of monsters. All the dragons seemed to be smart.

Eventually, they just set sail, leaving the repairs to be done under less stressful pressure. Ace and some others stared at the island shrinking into the horizon, a bit sad their adventure had been cut short.

**Review please!**


	3. Development

Ace had gone to get Ivy to be under his supervision, putting her in the comfy sash again. She woke up, but still seemed sleepy. As Ace stood against the railing, he sent a silent prayer to Ivy's mother, apologizing and saying that he'd take care of her baby and to not worry. The young man looked down at Ivy, who was peeking her head over the side and staring at the surroundings, determined to take care of her.

-x-

Ace sat in his room at his desk doing paperwork, the least enjoyable part of being a commander, with Ivy on the table next to him. Ace had gotten a small, metal bowl and constructed a heater under it for Ivy to sit in to keep warm since Ace was using his hands and couldn't keep her warm just by holding her. He made sure to make it comfortable for her with some fabric.

Plus, she didn't like being left alone on the bed. Ace wondered if she hadn't liked when her mama left her in the cave to go get food. Maybe that was why she was crying when Ace first found her. She was cleaning herself with her tongue, making him think of a cat. At last Ace wouldn't have to bathe her, it seemed.

He was so involved with his task that he almost knocked a whole cup of ink onto the papers in startle from Ivy sneezing. She sniffled afterwards, making a cry. Ace smiled, and then put his hand on her back.

"It was just a sneeze. Everyone has them, every creature on this planet does it. You're okay," Ace said in a soothing voice, stroking her small frame. The dragon sniffled but didn't cry again, just rubbed her head onto Ace's warm hands. He kept them warm most of the time when he was with Ivy, even when he wasn't touching her. "Good girl." And he turned back to his paperwork.

-x-

After an uneventful lunch, Thatch convinced (pestered) Ace to let him play with Ivy in Ace's bedroom. When Ace set Ivy down on the bed and out of the sash, she flopped on her side and squirmed back and forth, rubbing her back on the bed for an itch she couldn't reach in another position.

"She's so damn cute, I want her!" Thatch exclaimed. Ace hit him on the arm, sternly telling the man that Ivy was _Ace's_. That made Thatch pout but then laugh. He turned to Ivy, who was watching them with her big blue eyes. "Ivy, my name is Thatch. I'm Ace's friend," he said and gestured to Ace behind him.

Like she had earlier that day, Ivy stood up with trembling legs, and walked four steps in Ace's direction, who was sitting on in front of the bed. She flopped over again, tired from just that amount of walking.

"I wonder how long it'll take her to function completely," Thatch said in wonder as Ace pet the little dragon.

"I read once that birds can learn to fly from only a couple days to a month. She kind of reminded me of a bird. Some of the other dragons did as well. The ones that sat in the trees and the ones that dived like predator birds into the grass to pick up prey. She preens her feathers and gets fed mushy meat that seems to be pre chewed if she was still with her mother," Ace finished.

Thatch shrugged. "I guess we'll find out as we go along."

"Yup," Ace agreed. Thatch pulled a small bag out of pocket and showed it to Ace.

"I made treats for her!" the cook said proudly. Ace took the baggy and saw it was different types of mashed up meat. Fish, beef and chicken. There was a film over them. He asked what was on top. "Some herbs that taste good on meat but are all natural so most likely won't be bad for her. I also put a very small pinch of sugar on it. Can I give her some?" Thatch asked. Ace nodded and Thatch set one of each meat in front of Ivy. She sniffed and licked each one experimentally. She clearly thought they were tasty and chowed down quickly. She made a chirp.

"She likes them!" Thatch cheered. "I made a lot, and can make more. You want another?" Ivy reached out out her front leg, making little grasping movements with her toes. Thatch chuckled and handed her three more. Again, she down them in record time. "I'll make another batch, but no more for now," Thatch said.

Ivy's brow bones lowered and she gave what looked like a pout at his words. "Can- can she _understand_ us?" Thatch asked Ace quietly, who was also looking surprised. Ace licked his lips before he spoke.

"We shouldn't really be surprised. That mother dragon understood what we were saying last night about her baby, and pops admitting we were the ones to hunt it. It seems dragons are very smart. Well, maybe except for the little ones."

"Amazing…" Thatch whispered. He handed Ivy her last serving and then put them in his pocket. "Can I try and pet her?" the man asked quietly. Ace nodded, liking how excited Thatch was about this. It was endearing.

Thatch slowly reached his hand closer, and Ivy sniffed him, probably smelling the food on his hands. He gently slid his fingers down her spine and under her chin. "She's so soft. I always thought all dragons were made of scales, if they even existed."

"If you had gone on the island, you would have seen how diverse they all were. There were ones that seemed like birds, with feathers. Ones that were furry that climbed up trees. A few were scaly or had spikes. There were the little butterfly-like ones that Mathew brought back in the jar. Some of them glowed, too. Then there was Ivy and her mama in a cave I went in." Ace smiled. "It was amazing. If we hadnt angered the dragons, I would have liked to go on the island again." Then he looked sad. "We will probably never see it again."

Thatch looked down. He wished he had gone when he could. He missed out on something amazing. But at least he got to see _some _live ones. He'd been on deck when the little dragons flew on and chewed on the ropes, and of course with the green dragons that caused them some trouble. And he did get to see the jar of dragons, and Ivy obviously. He should be thankful for just that. There was no point in moping. They couldn't go back anytime soon.

Ivy made a little squeak around a yawn, and walked two steps to Ace's hand and laid down on it, getting ready to sleep in the warm place. "Somebody's tired from socializing," Ace said with a smile. Thatch smiled, brought out of his sad mood. Ivy chirped and closed her eyes, falling asleep easily.

"I should go now. Don't want to wake her up," Thatch said, giving Ivy one last smile. Ace nodded and said goodnight quietly. Once the door was shut gently, Ace got up to go get a book and lay on the bed while Ivy slept in his warmed hand.

-x-

Over the next week, every commander had some one on one time with Ace and his dragon, and thought she was adorable. Thatch made another batch of the meat sweets, and brought them to Ivy before bed every night, which she liked.

Neither pirate knew if she liked Thatch for him, or his treats. She did let him pet her a lot, and always licked his fingers after eating, with a rough tongue that didn't hurt, it just wasn't a very good feeling.

Even Marco had warmed up to her a little bit. She made Ace happy, which was good enough for him at the moment. Once they were sure she wasn't a liability, Marco was completely okay with her being aboard. She hadnt been around the captain much, since Ace wanted her to get used to the regular sized commanders, and then moved on to the larger ones.

They all liked her, but some more than others. _Especially _Thatch. Every time Ace brought her outside or to meals in the sash, he'd grin and, if she was awake, would make her disgusting, mushy food.

He hadnt let any of non-commander brothers near her. Not until she got big enough to walk steadily on her own, which was coming along nicely.

Ace sat on the carpeted floor of his room after dinner, with Ivy a few feet away. "C'mon, Ivy, you can do it," he encouraged as the dragon very slowly walked towards him, focusing on the floor below her toes. Each night, Ace practiced with her before Thatch came with her treats before bed time.

A week ago, Ace had started with half a foot, and then steadily widened the distance she had to walk to get to Ace. He didn't have to give her treats to bribe her to learn, though she did get some later on. Ace now sat three feet away from her, and encouraged her cheerfully as she toddled over.

When she reached Ace's knees, she fell to the side, little legs tired. When Ace gently picked her up, she trilled, looking up at him, as if asking for feedback. "You did very good. Think you can do more tomorrow?" Ace asked. Ivy chirped as an answer, and kicked her legs a bit. "Good. I'm sure you'll do even better tomorrow."

He set her down in her little bed Izo had made out of stuffing and velvet fabric. It was like a little nest that had a center small enough to have Ivy fit perfectly inside. At night, he started to rest her on his chest in the bed so the heat could still reach her through the fabric and stuffing. He always slept on his back, so it wasn't a problem.

Thatch came when he always did, carrying four treats instead of the whole bag. Ivy gladly ate them and then curled into a ball and fell asleep in her bed easily. It was nice she went to bed the same time as Ace, though she napped throughout the day a lot.

Ace was flattered at how quickly Ivy had warmed up to him, no pun intended. It had only been two weeks and she already hated being away from him. Even a little bit. She cried when he went to the desk and left her on the bed, so she no longer did that. And when he went to the bathroom, he kept the door open so she knew he was still there.

When he showered, he brought her bed into the bathroom on the floor so he could just open the shower curtain to let her see him if she started crying. It was endearing, albeit a bit sad, and the sash was very helpful.

Both the young man and his dragon fell asleep easily, Ivy purring like she often did when near him.

-x-

Over another week, Ivy was able to walk from one end of the room to the other, finally and quickly getting the hang of it. She had fallen off of the bed twice before Ace had railings made on each side by the one he slept on. It was a little pen so Ivy couldn't topple over the side and get hurt.

She had grown visibly over the weeks, and now had to fit in both of Ace's hands. She was too big for just one. The sash had to be adjusted to be wider for her, since he wasn't comfortable with her walking around the ship yet. She was still small, and could get stepped on easily.

Ivy also didn't have to eat mushy food anymore as her teeth had lengthened and grew somewhat pointier than they had been when Ace found her. Ace still didnt let her eat food from the table, since she was still considered a baby, at least to Ace and the others. She just ate meat that wasn't mush, and tolerated that fine, even though she liked the smell of the yummy human food. But she trusted Ace to know what was good for her.

Whitebeard finally got to hold her once she was bigger than his smallest finger. His hand was very big for her, and he was extremely gentle when handling the baby. Ace watched his every move in case he was too rough. Whitebeard really liked how happy Ace was and the responsibility he was handling very well, still able to do his work when needed, and also take care of her almost all day.

Ace still hadnt allowed much of the rest of the crew around her. It wasn't that he thought they would try and hurt her, but there were a lot of them, and some werent the most gentle people, even if it wasn't on purpose. Even dropping her from a normal height could hurt her badly.

They still saw her, just not up close. At the commanders' table, she was allowed to eat her food on it with the others, since she didn't shed and much of her was covered in feathers now, so if they did fall out, they were easy to pick up and not make a mess.

She had grown some feathers on the front of her neck, though they were soft and downy, unlike the ones on her wings, which had grown to look like bird wings. Ace wondered why this was, since her mother hadnt had as much feathers. He wished he had some sort of manual or book on dragons. Real ones, not works of fiction.

The tip of her tail had downy feathers now as well, and her toes finally had talons, though they were very small and still blunt. Even if they were extremely sharp, they wouldn't hurt Ace, even if he didnt use armament haki where she could possibly scratch a normal person.

-x-

Ace was trying to teach Ivy to run in their bedroom. She had successfully walked laps around the room, which she was very proud of, as well as Ace. He felt kind of stupid running back and forth in the room. She was sitting down, not understanding what he was trying to teach. He sighed, figuring out why she looked so clueless.

Ivy wasn't bipedal, so Ace got on all fours and crawled as fast as he could across the room. She clearly understood now, and stood up quickly. She would figure it out and make her favorite person proud.

It wasn't the most graceful run, but she was able to get to him on the other side of the room faster than she had before. He grinned and pat her furry head, and then crawled back in imitation running again, where she followed after. Ace did it again, and again, until she was side by side with him.

He picked her up and thrust her into the air, earning a trill. "You did it!" Ace congratulated. "Good job! You're gonna get _extra _treats tonight," he said and snuggled her into his chest. She licked him in affection.

Thatch heard the shouting and hurried to the bedroom, knocking on it and earning permission to enter. Thatch was surprised to see Ace grinning like an excited child as he cuddled Ivy. "Thatch! She ran!" he shouted. Ivy looked at Thatch with a somewhat smug look. The man chuckled.

"Well I guess someone is getting extra bedtime treats," he said. Ivy squirmed in Ace's arms, being let down, and, showing Thatch her improvement, she trotted over to the man. She lifted her front legs up to put them against Thatch's legs, rubbing her little feet, almost making a begging motion for her treats.

Thatch pulled the sack out of his pocket and poured seven treats out. Ivy scarfed down her food, rolling onto her back happily after finishing them. Ace hadnt even congratulated her this much when she first walked, so she was excited and happy with so much positive attention.

Ace walked over and sat down next to her, rubbing her tummy roughly, earning a trill that could possibly be a giggle if she were human. Then she yawned and blinked heavily. She was still a young one, though Ace wouldn't consider her a baby anymore, even if she was still small.

"Someone is sleepy. I'll see you tomorrow, Ace. Then you can brag all you want about your baby to everyone," Thatch said with a fond chuckle as he watched Ace pick Ivy up with such gentle care.

"Damn right, I will," Ace said, still grinning. "G'night, Thatch." Thatch said goodnight, too, and shut the door. "Bed time," Ace said quietly, as Ivy was already asleep. Ace set her on her bed, and put it on his chest like usual.

**Update!: there was a mistake in the chapter where I named Ivy Luffy instead. I've fixed it. **


	4. Uh Oh!

**WhiteyWolf26: Thanks for reviewing again! It will stay fluffy and adorable for a few more chapters before shit goes down! I think everyone will enjoy something Ivy does.**

**Enjoy~**

The next morning, Ace surprised everyone when he seemed to walk into the dining room alone. With no sash. He had waited until he knew everyone were in the room already to come in, since he was letting Ivy walk next to him steadily. When he reached the door, he ran to the table across the room, with Ivy chasing after him, chirping as if telling him to wait for her.

When they reached their usual spot, Ace lifted Ivy up and set her on the table next to her tea cup plate that had the a full fish and a whole chicken breast. She was ecstatic to see more food on her plate, and jumped up and down once before digging in.

"Cant have a dragon exercising without more food," Thatch said loudly. "It's not healthy." Ace grinned at him and shoved the first pancake into his mouth.

Jozu looked at Ace in curious surprise. "Did something happen last night?" he questioned, the others wondering as well. Ace had never set Ivy on the floor except in his room.

"Yesh!" Ace shouted before swallowing his food and speaking clearly. "She ran across the room last night!" he exclaimed, letting everyone in the room know. Ivy looked up and sat down in a regal position with her head held high, taking in the praise. She trilled when the table started clapping, along with the rest of the room.

The commanders all praised and congratulated her on her improvement. They couldn't wait to see Ace explode once she took first flight. Marco was planning on helping with that, he just hadnt told anyone yet. He had warmed to Ivy completely once it became very clear that she was under control. Over the many weeks she'd been with them, she behaved fine and was a very nice animal that the crew had warmed to. She had Ace wrapped around her little toes.

-x-

There was a party the night for Ivy's success. She really was a crew member. She was allowed to partake in it of course, where she hadnt for the few that had happened since it was too rowdy for her as a baby.

She was startled when it started. There was a lot of noise. But she was in Ace's lap, who was happy to be able to be at a party without having to take care of Ivy. He didn't resent her or anything, but it was just nice and had been awhile.

Ace drank a lot of sake, but not so much it would endanger Ivy in his lap, who was purring with her eyes closed. She seemed to have gotten used to the noise. She was also feeling really proud of running, since that seemed to be a big deal to everyone.

She had a large plate of meat and fish, along with a single piece of sandwich bread. It may have seemed like random choice to those who hadnt sat at the commanders' table, but whenever sandwiches were for a meal, she would try and steal the bread, or paw at it, hoping for scraps. Ace didn't give her human food, but this was special. And Ivy was saving it for last.

Once it started to get chilly, Ace had forgotten about keeping her warm since he was slightly drunk and distracted with the poker game he was playing with some others. But Ivy was fine, just relaxing in Ace's crossed legs. And Ace wasn't emitting any heat on purpose.

Thatch noticed first. "Hey Ace, are you keeping her warm?" he asked curiously. Ace looked surprised and glanced down to see Ivy not shivering or curled into a ball. Another thing to celebrate. Her feathers and fur kept her warm enough. Ace wondered how long she had been able to keep herself warm since he also kept the area warm where she was or was sleeping.

Ace smiled down at her. "Another good thing, I guess."

The party lasted a long time, and most of the pirates were out cold from the booze by the first lights of the next day. Ivy had fallen asleep just fine in Ace's lap, on her back with her feet resting on her chest, like a cat would.

The dragon was the first to wake up, and looked around at all the sleeping people. It was very quiet, which was nice. She stood up and walked to the railing to look out at the sea. The deck was cool on the slight pads on her toes, and the breeze made her downy feathers flutter. She liked her home. Where did she live before Ace? She remembered it was dark a lot except for a warm blue light.

There was something that would come visit her and feed her food, but it was so dark she never made out who or what it was. It gave off a nice presence, but then the warm blue light was suddenly gone, and she hadnt seen it in a while.

She just looked ahead of her at the sunrise. It was a good feeling.

Ace woke up and panicked for a moment when Ivy wasn't in his lap. Where was she?! "Ivy?" he called loudly, and heard quiet pitter-pattering on the deck as the feathery dragon trotted over to him. He frowned at her, but hugged her anyways. "I don't want you going far away from me. Not yet, you only just learned how to run. We don't want you slipping off the ship since you can't fly yet," Ace said. Ivy nodded her head. She didn't want to worry Ace.

-x-

"Shit, shit, shit!" Ace called as he opened the bedroom door to see the curtains on fire with blue flames, while Ivy cried in the corner. He put it out by absorbing the flames. It was a familiar feeling. That was dragon's fire. He turned around to hear Ivy hiccup through her crying.

That wall caught on fire next. "Ahh!" he shouted, putting that out and hurrying outside to the place on deck the furthest from the sails, carrying Ivy, who continued to hiccup flames. Flames much hotter than Ace's.

He pat on her back, trying to get rid of the destructive hiccups. She was still crying. It was scary. But by the time the hiccups had ceased, and Ace was whispering soothing words, the cries stopped.

"You okay?" Ivy nodded. She was the size of an adolescent house cat now. It had been four months since she'd learned to run. She had hit the plateau of improvement and hadnt learned to fly yet. Or any sort of powers or abilities.

Well, until now. "That was fire. Like mine. It won't hurt you," Ace told her nicely, sitting down on deck with her in his lap. "Watch," he said and lit his hand on fire.

Ivy reached her paw out and touched it, her clawed toes feeling warm but not painful. She knew that this stuff was supposed to hurt you, since she had seen Ace fight with it once on their first "mission" together.

Well, it was both of theirs when Ace found her hidden in his bag, instead of supplies and food and water. She had still been small back then, and he had gotten mad at her for it. But when she started crying at his anger, he had taken it back and stopped the little ship. He had explained to her that it was too dangerous for her to be with him.

He had taken her back to a worried crew, but he ran into a pirate crew who thought they could take his bounty. He had never been more afraid than he was at the thought of Ivy getting caught up in the short lived fight and getting hurt. She was still very young, only her fifth week on the crew.

She had obediently hidden in his bag while he simply blew the ship up with fire. Ivy had watched through the bag's opening as pirates screamed in pain at burning. After that, she knew Ace could be scary, but not to her.

She also saw how strong Ace really was. He was always so gentle with her, so she hadnt seen that side of him.

"Why don't you try opening your mouth and breathing fire." She cocked her head at him as they both sat on deck. "Like this," Ace said and opened his own mouth to breathe out his own orange and red flames. "Now you try."

The dragon immediately caught on fire. All of her, her whole body was covered in blue and white flames. Ace sighed. As soon as it had come, the fire disappeared, leaving a very shocked looking Ivy. Ace was glad his clothes became part of his logia fire and his shorts hadnt burned into nothing by the blue flames.

He gave an example of breathing fire again. He opened her mouth with his finger and once again blew fire. Ivy tried again to breathe fire, but all that came out was a puff of white smoke. Ace chuckled. "We've got a lot of practicing to do, don't we?" Ivy chirped in agreement.

Thatch came running down the hall once he smelled the smoke through his own room. He was a couple yards away from Ace's room, so he was the first to notice the smell of scorched wood. He felt the door handle, and it wasn't scalding hot, so he opened the door, letting out some smoke.

Two of the walls had scorch marks on them. The curtains over his porthole were in tatters and browned at the edges. Did Ace lose control? That had never happened before. Then it clicked. Ivy was a dragon. A growing one, and would eventually learn how to breathe fire. Thatch hurried out of the ship and onto deck, feeling with his haki to find Ace and Ivy at the back of the ship.

He hurried up to the two and saw Ace breathing fire while Ivy watched intently. He was startled when the dragon burst into flames. Ace sighed, making it clear it had happened before.

"Hey, Thatch," Ace called wearily. The cook walked over quickly. "You gotta help me teach her. I don't want Marco to say 'told you so'." Thatch asked how he could help, and was told to get lots of treats and a bowl of water. The man hurried away to fetch what Ace needed.

Ace knew what Ivy was going through, since when he got his fruit at the beginning, he was a complete liability to his crew and ship. He would randomly catch on fire, as well. He hadnt had fire hiccups, though, which was good. There was no doubt his crew would have laughed at him for it.

He never really thought about how much he fit with Ivy. They were both creatures of fire, and Ace could teach her how to control it. She had learned how to run and walk with him, so why wouldn't this happen, too?

"Try again," the young man said, and Ivy set herself on fire again. Her feathers and fur didn't get get damaged, which was good. She reminded him of Marco when he was in pheonyx form. The blue flames that looked like feathers on her wings, tail and chest.

Thatch soon came out with the bag of treats and tub of water. Ivy smelled the treats and scurried out of Ace's lap and ran to Thatch, who set the stuff down and quickly walked backwards. He didn't want to get burned.

Ace sighed and got up to get the bag of treats before Ivy's claws ripped it open. He sat down again, and called her over. She hurried, wanting the treats. Ace pulled her to his side, and said, "Try again. I'll give a you some treats if you can do it." Ivy's eyes narrowed in determination.

She caught on fire again, but this time, the flames were thicker on her front legs and less on her back. Ace gave her half of a treat, and told her to focus the fire only on her legs, since that seemed like a stepping stone before breathing the fire. Besides, being able to _not _spontaneously combust was better than learning to breathe it.

She made a low growl as she focused the fire on her legs. She looked up at Ace quickly, licking her lips since she had been able to do it. She got a whole treat.

"Try to focus it on your toes," Ace said, tapping the little appendages. Ivy did so, scrunching her eyes trying to only light her toes. It worked, but with the powerful flames only focused in one place made the deck _melt _below her. Ace pulled her up away from the deck.

Those flames were extremely powerful. "Thatch, do you know when the next island is?" Ace asked from afar, since Thatch hadnt come any closer.

"Uh, tomorrow," he replied.

Ace's face lit up. "That's great!" Ivy chirped, liking Ace's enthusiasm. "Now, we have to keep the ship from catching fire until then." He had a plan. He would keep her in water all day. The little tub Thatch had brought out was too small for her, so they'd go to the bath house. That was definitely big enough. He could also teach the dragon how to swim as a distraction until the next day.

He held Ivy close to his chest on the quick walk to the bath house, since Ace was practically running. Ivy had taken showers with him, but had never swam, partly since Ace couldn't take baths without getting sleepy.

Then he saw who he really didn't want to see. "Hey, Ace. You're up early, yoi," Marco said in his flat voice. Ace walked right past him.

"Taking a bath, see you later!" he called behind him as he walked up another flight of stairs. Marco frowned, but ultimately shrugged and headed to the kitchen for breakfast. The smell of smoke had dissipated since Thatch had left the entrance door open and Ace's room was near it. The commanders' rooms were all near the exit/entrance.

When he entered the kitchen, he found an uncomfortable looking Thatch cooking without really focusing on it. "Thatch, you okay?" Marco asked in concern. Thatch jumped, startled.

"Ah, yeah. I'm fine," he said. He was not a convincing liar, and he only needed another push from Marco before he spilled the beans. "Ivy set the bedroom walls on fire," he said simply, immediately feeling like he'd betrayed Ace. "_Damn…"_

Marco sighed. "Is that why they are going to the bath?"

"Yeah. Ace wants it as a distraction until we make it to the next island. Probably be there for awhile. Safer to train her how to control fucking _fire _on land than on a wooden boat. She caught on fire and _melted _some of the deck. That must be suuuper hot." then he chuckled. "Well, she has a good teacher. Man, how convenient, though? Ace can control fire and he can teach a freaking dragon to as well." He stirred the gigantic pot of scrambled eggs.

"That's a good plan, yoi. He thinks I'm gonna say I told him so, doesn't he?" the first mate questioned. 5 months ago, he definitely would have. But Ivy had been really good for Ace, and the crew as a whole, even if most of them didn't interact with her. No one had seen him smile like he did around the dragon before they went to that fateful island.

Thatch nodded, causing Marco to sigh. He turned around and headed to the bathhouse to tell Ace that he wasn't going to say what the young man thought he would. When he reached the bathhouse he knocked and opened the door when he got an uncertain permission to enter. But he didnt see Ace.

He was greeted by thick steam fogging up the room and restricting his view. "What the-?" The steam cleared enough to see a nervous looking Ace sitting on the edge of the tub in his boxers while he held a frightened looking dragon. But the view was brief for the bath erupted in steam again.

"Is that from Ivy?" Marco asked, heading towards the source of the steam.

"Ah, yeah. She keeps catching on fire," Ace said, getting a whimper that sounded slightly ashamed from the submerged dragon. "It's not your fault, Ivy. You don't need to feel guilty. We just hafta' practice more," he said kindly. Ivy paddled forwards very sightly, though with Ace's secure hands around her middle.

"Besides, you're learning to swim nicely." Suddenly there was a bright flash from her body before it disappeared. "What was that?" Ace wondered. But he looked up at Marco, who looked panicked, staring at nothing. He put his hands in front of his eyes, which were out of focus.

"You okay, Marco?"

"I'm blind," Marco said in panic. He closed his eyes for a moment, letting himself be bathed in his healing flames, and opened his eyes again. He could see normally now. He looked at the dragon in fear for once. Ace looked terrified at hearing Marco was blinded.

"I'm okay now. Anyone else would not have been. She can't be around anyone besides you and me until she can control this, yoi. That flash was so bright it blinded me. Like I was suddenly looking at the sun. Crap," Marco said, rubbing the back of his neck. "I'll be back later," he said suddenly. "Don't leave this room until I come back."

Ace and Ivy both looked at each other in confusion. What happened? Ace wasn't hurt by it… but, oh man, if she could blind someone just from a flash, that was bad. "Well, I'm okay around you, so that's good. Right?" he asked kindly. Ivy slowly got closer to him and rubbed her damp head on his knee. "We'll figure it out, don't worry."

Ace had been teaching Ivy to swim like you would teach a toddler. He held her arms as she uncertainly waded into the deeper part of the bathtub. It was a very large bath, like a hot spring. There were a lot of pirates on this crew, after all.

The devil fruit user couldn't get very deep, only up to his shins before he felt saggy, but he aided the dragon as deep as he could before taking her to the side, not higher or lower, but the same depth. She was learning nicely, and the combustions had stopped. There hadnt been another flash after the first, either. Ace was glad it hadnt affected him.

After awhile of Ivy slowly swimming, she got tired. Ace didn't know it was because she felt so much heavier in water. Her thick feathers grew heavy and made it difficult to move too fast. So, Ace sat in the water with her, feeling drowsy, but not enough that it would cause a problem. Ivy floated on her back. It least that was an improvement.

It had been three hours before Marco came back, wearing some very unattractive sunglasses. He had some sort of jacket, a small one. One that was probably for Ivy, to keep her covered so she didn't blind anyone. _Permanently. _

Ace picked her up out of the water and set her on the white tile. She shook herself like a dog would, spraying water everywhere, but Ace was already wet. Marco didn't seem to care, and handed Ace a towel.

He did his best to dry the wet dragon without hurting her. Being wet made her look smaller. And without the fur very visible, sticking to her skin, she looked more like a real dragon and less like a life-like stuffed animal.

"Izo made this for her until you two are either by yourselves, or Ivy has been able to master the flash." He handed Ace the jacket, who crouched down to let Ivy sniff it. She didn't like it. The dragon didn't want to wear what the humans did.

"You have to wear this so you don't hurt any of the crew. You don't want that, right?" Ace asked. Ivy sighed through her nose and shook her head, making it easy for Ace to get her dressed in it. It had a long little hood to cover her neck. The only thing that was visible was her face and toes.

Ace turned to Marco. "This thing is fireproof, right?"

"Yeah. Should calm down the explosions. _Should. _Don't know if it will work too well, though," Marco said. "Don't tell anyone about the flash, yoi. No one knows but us. We don't want people afraid of her. After all, we're reaching land tomorrow.

Ace and Ivy couldn't practice anymore with the jacket on. They couldn't take it off either in case she flashed again and hurt someone who couldn't heal completely. It was proven to be a good idea to not take the jacket off when the dragon flashed again at dinner. No one noticed but Whitebeard and a handful of the commanders. The ones Ace trusted to not be afraid of the feathery beast.

Whitebeard had told Ace and Ivy that after dinner they needed to stay in their chambers. Nobody but Thatch and Marco knew about the state of Ace's bedroom. So when the dragon and fire man went back to the room, it smelled like ash. Ace got rid of the curtains and wiped the walls down as best as he could with a wet rag from the bathroom. Ivy watched sadly from the bed.

She lowered her head and covered her eyes with her front toes. Ace heard the little whimper and put the rag down and walked to the bed. He kneeled on the carpet in front of it to be at Ivy's eye level. He rubbed her head, hand sliding under the jacket. "I'm not mad. I promise. I've done this many times before."

Ivy nodded her head, and used her front toes to try and pull the coat off since it was bedtime. She didn't feel like she deserved any treats tonight. Plus, she'd gotten a few earlier. Ace gently pulled the jacket off and set it on the dresser across from the bed.

**Next chapter will be all about Ivy's training. Even get a short cameo from a fan favorite character!**

**Just wanted to announce that I'm in the process of editing another story that's taken a year to write. It's like my child, lol. I spent so much time and research and emotion into it that I can't wait to post it! Hope it gets the kind of love I hope it does!**

**Anyways, review! **


	5. Training Success! part 1

**WhiteyWold26: Ivy surely will become even more of a badass. I like to think that Ivy's mom lost to Teach because it's possible Ivy was stronger since Ace was experienced and taught her. Maybe Ivy's mama wasn't taught by her own mother. It's a mystery. ;) **

**Shorter chapter this time because there's two parts. I'll upload the second part sooner than usual since this chapter is pretty short. Enjoy~**

That morning, Thatch brought their meals in for breakfast, wearing sunglasses that were much nicer than Marco's had been, and Ace wondered where they'd gotten them. When Ivy saw Thatch enter the room, she buried herself under the covers more until all of her was covered. She didn't want to blind Thatch. Ace and Thatch looked at Ivy in slight pity but also fondness. It was nice that she was smart.

"I brought some extra food for you, Ivy. You'll need it with practicing. I also brought a bag of treats," Thatch said and handed Ace the baggy. The young man set down both of their plates on the part of the bed that was not covered in tangled blankets. Ivy gave a chirp in what Thatch assumed was a thank you. "Good luck with your training!" Thatch called and left the room, closing the door behind him.

Ivy crawled out from under the covers and crouched down to eat her yummy raw meat that Thatch had seasoned. Ace ate quietly, thinking over the plans to teach her that he'd formed last night in bed. He felt they were good, and if they didnt work, he'd just have to come up with new ones.

Once they were both done, Ivy licking her plate clean, Ace got dressed and sadly put the hateful jacket on Ivy. But she cooperated with him and lifted her legs when she was supposed to. She would only need to wear it briefly to get off the ship after finding Whitebeard and telling him where Ace was going to go and that he had a plan.

When Ace left the room, just as he was turning around, Marco was there. Ace jumped a little, having been distracted for a moment. Marco apologized for startling him, but Ace waved it off. "We're having a brief meeting about this island. Connor said it would take a week for the log pose to set."

"Alright. C'mon Ivy," Ace said as the three walked to the meeting room. Ivy had always been allowed in the meetings. Even when she was a baby, Ace brought her, not wanting to leave her unsupervised. Ivy was always with him, and always had been and most likely will be.

When the three entered the meeting room, they saw that everyone was already there. Like usual, Ivy walked to the corner where there was a pillow for her that she always relaxed in during the meeting.

Ace and Marco took their seats at the table that had the captain sitting at the end of it. "Hello, sons, hello Ivy," Whitebeard greeted. Ivy chirped from the corner in a greeting back.

"The meeting will be short. Conner has told us that the log pose will set in a week. I want everyone to get more supplies. We need food and some supplies for the shipwrights in case we hit a storm.

"The first day, everyone can do what they wish, but tomorrow the shopping must be done. After that, divisions shall take turns with who leaves the ship. This island holds many pirates, and we are unsure of whether they are good or bad.

"Ace, you will train Ivy in a secluded area. I have been told about the problems, and they need to be taken care of," the captain said. Everyone else looked curios, but did not ask or interrupt the conversation.

"The biggest news is that brat, Shanks' ship is here. I know he will not harm anyone, but be prepared to be swamped by his drunk crew and most likely him drunk as well. What a lightweight," Whitebeard sighed out. A couple commanders chuckled. Marco groaned, not being a fan of the loud man. He was always asking the phoenyx to join the crew. It was annoying.

"Alright men, go your separate ways and direct your division members."

"Aye," all of them said, scooting their chairs back. It really had been a shot meeting.

"C'mon, Ivy. Practice time!" Ivy ran over, excited by the enthusiasm in Ace's voice. They two walked ahead of everyone, going to the mess hall to relay his orders to them, and then leaving earliest since Thatch had already brought them food in their room.

Everyone were ecstatic to be able to do whatever they wanted that day, and didn't whine about the labor they'd have to partake in later. They also had mixed reactions about possibly coming into contact with Shanks. He was a fun drinking buddy, until he got _too_ drunk. He was also pretty loud. But everyone knew he or his crew wouldnt attack them.

Ace and Ivy left the ship, followed by no one, as Ace lead her down the docks and to the beach they had seen from the ship. They'd go far into the beach area so it would most likely not have anyone around. He wanted Ivy to have all her focus on this.

The dragon didn't like going on land, and mostly stayed on the ship with whoever was watching, and was periodically checked on by Ace so she wasn't upset. The dragon didn't remember the island she was born on and where Ace had rescued her, so going on land was scary and new. She also didn't like meeting new people.

But this was very important, and she'd have to deal with the discomfort.

Ace took off the small dragon's jacket, and she stretched and fluttered her wings, still not liking the jacket. "Okay, we're going to start with controlling the flash, okay? We can't risk blinding anyone, right?" Ivy nodded her head. She'd do her best to learn from Ace. She trusted him to be a good teacher like how he taught her to walk and run.

"You remember in the bedroom, when it's dark at first, but then suddenly gets bright?" Ivy nodded. "To do that, I flip a switch on the wall. And when I push it down again, the light leaves. All rooms have that. So that's what I want you to think about while trying to control the flash. I'm gonna say 'light on', and you will flash. When I said 'light off', try and go back to normal.

"I know you can do it," Ace finished kindly. "Plus, each time you do it, you can have a treat." Then he pulled out the very large and full bag that had her yummys in it. She hopped up once with a happy trill. No matter how many she eats or how long she's had them, they were always delicious and motivating.

"Ready? Light on!"

Ivy scrunched her eyes, and flickered very faintly. But it was a start. It left quickly, without Ace telling her the code word. "Again! Light on!" Ace cheered. Ivy scrunched her eyes again, and flickered again, though it was the same brightness as the first, but lasted a few seconds longer.

Two hours after practicing, and many treats later, she could successfully turn on and stay on. She couldn't follow Ace's commands to turn it off, but she was improving quickly. Ace knew that it was because this was much more important than learning to run or walk. She took no break, or asked for one, until Ace made her.

For the break, she played in the water that spilled from the sea and onto the sand. She got sand between her toes, and curiously licked it, only to spit it out. Ace chuckled from behind, while he sat in the dry part with only his bare feet in the receding water.

Half an hour later, they were practicing again. She was finally able to follow Ace's command for on and off. She took it even further without Ace asking when she turned it off and started blinking. Off, on, off, on, on, off. Ace clapped his hands for her, and she ran over for treats and a hug.

"I'm so proud of you!" Ace said, earning a happy trill. Ivy wasn't done impressing Ace yet. She liked when he smiled at her like that. Instead of flickering on and off, she tried brightening and lowering the flash. Ace grinned at her, and tossed her a treat that she caught in her mouth.

"Do you think you can control it now? So not to hurt anyone on the crew?" Ace asked as he sat on the sand with Ivy in his lap. She nodded and rubbed her head against Ace's chest. "Good girl," he said quietly and rubbed under her chin. "Ready to practice your fire?"

She got out of his lap and ran to the area they were practicing at. Ace followed and stood next to her. "Remember when you were in the bath? How the water was hot at first, but over time became cooler and cooler until it was cold?"

She nodded.

"I want you to imagine you were in the water again. But the other way around. You're cold right now, and will become warm until you feel hot. We'll start with that." Ace moved a few feet away. "You are cold. Very cold, and now you are slowly getting warmer. Warmer until hot."

But she combusted brightly into the hot flames. She was amazing looking when covered in the blue flames. The sand below her melted into glass. Ace had never encountered flame so scorching. She looked at the glass beneath her in curiosity.

"Now get cold again. The hot flames lower and lower until you feel like you did before," Ace encouraged. Ivy spread her toes when she suddenly was no longer on fire. He walked closer to her, though she was still emitting heat, just not on fire. The sand below her didn't melt, but she would no doubt hurt someone if she stayed this hot.

"Colder, Ivy. Now you're so cold that it feels like a winter island." it was a good analogy, for her temperature lowered until she was back to normal. "Great!" he congratulated, giving her two treats. She made a pleased noise and looked up, wishing more more. "Alright, one more," Ace said fondly and handed her one more fish treat. Thatch really was helpful with making these things.

"Again."

By another two hours of practicing, the dragon was very tired. That was enough for today. They had a week, after all. "Time to go get lunch," Ace said, holding her as she dozed from all the effort she'd been making. It reminded him of when she could only walk a few steps before she got too tired. He couldn't believe that he'd found her on that island over half a year ago. He had the dragon jacket sticking out of his shorts on the hip so he could hold the dragon with two arms.

He smiled down at her. He loved her so much. He still hadnt told Luffy about it. Next time he saw him, even if Ivy didn't go with him, Ace would tell Luffy and his crew he hadnt met yet all about the little dragon.


	6. Training Success! part 2

**WhiteyWolf26: the timeline will become clearer and match more with cannon in a couple more chapters. It's basically the same timeline with WB and Straw hats. Though Ace got Ivy before Luffy set sail, and has been raising her for a while, since both are aging together. Ace will meet with Luffy's crew in a couple more chapters, though it's brief. And there's a little snippit of Ivy meeting the Straw hats that sheds light on the timeline better. I hope I didn't just make it more confusing. I just don't want to spoil what happens later with Teach. So just sit tight, I think it will make sense later. **

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**Ace and Ivy are so cute together. Enjoy~**

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Whitebeard was on deck in his chair with a nurse when Ace and Ivy arrived, Ivy still asleep. He had to talk to his father about it, so he set the dragon down on her pillow outside the entrance to the interior of the ship. It had a tarp on it and was nailed to the deck so it would stay intact during storms.

When Ace approached the chair, the nurse left, giving Ivy a frown when she walked past to go inside. The nurses never liked Ivyy because they thought she could be a liability and cause injuries. "How'd it go, son?"

"She's a fast learner. She can already control the flash, able to turn it off and on or make it blink. She can also regulate her temperature and the flames well. She can still be extremely hot when _not _on fire. We'll have to work on that some more. But she's making great progress!" Ace said excitedly.

Whitebeard grinned. "Happy to hear it. It's quite convenient that it was _you _who found her. You can stay with her when she's too hot and don't get blinded when you see the flash. I'm thankful she makes you so happy." Ace blushed a little bit.

"Yeah, she does," was all Ace said before heading inside to get a premade lunch Thatch had made for those who returned before him. He picked her up, and she woke up when she smelled the kitchen.

Ace set her down on the floor since she still had sand in between her toes and Thatch wouldn't appreciate her being on his spotless counter. She chirped below him as he put some chicken on a plate and brought out the honey sauce Thatch had concocted that was all natural. She got it after long days of successful improvement.

He got out his own boxed lunch with his name on it since he ate a ridiculous amount of food before he was satisfied. They walked to the empty table and set down Ivy's food, who jumped up onto the seat and then from there onto the table. Ace would just wipe it down afterwards.

They ate in comfortable silence except for the high pitched "mmm"s Ivy made because of how good the food was for her.

"We're gonna practice some more tomorrow, too," Ace said between bites. Ivy nodded her head.

Marco was a bit wary when he saw Ivy without the jacket on, but Ace was positive she wouldn't do it by accident, and could even control how bright it was. The others wondered what the two were talking about, but didn't ask. Ace would tell them eventually.

Ivy did start to become warmer once she was tired, which was definitely new, though it showed when they should retire for the night. It was nice that she no longer had to go to bed early, so Ace could stay up longer but still have her around him.

Not only Ivy was uncomfortable not being around him. It was mutual. She easily fell asleep after a long day, regardless of her nap before lunch.

-x-

"Like this," Ace said and opened his mouth to blow some air out. He was starting at the very basics of teaching her how to breathe fire. The dragon moved her mouth and blew air out, though it whistled more because her lips and mouth werent meant to do it like that. So Ace changed it around and blew out with his lips normal.

"Haaaah," he breathed out. Ivy was able to do this one, and it was normal for her. That was a good start.

"Imagine there's something hot in your mouth, like when you ate the food off the grill once. Remember that?" Ace questioned. That had been when Ivy was still younger but had been able to run and jump. She thought the smell of cooking meat was interesting, so she jumped over the grill and snatched a hot piece of meat. It hadnt hurt her, but was unfamiliar and she ended up spitting it out. Well, she ate it once it was cool.

She didn't do it again.

"Blow out, like you're trying to get the hot food out. _Haaa,_" he said and blew some fire out of his own mouth.

Ivy coughed out some white smoke. Ace gave her a treat, since it was an improvement. Ace encouraged her to do it more, and after only fifteen minutes she was able to blow out heat, but not flames. And it was very hot, as it melted the sand again like she had the day before.

After another half hour and short break, she blew out a spark. It interested Ace, wondering how her fire breathing would work. Did it come from her lungs, or something in her mouth, so he curiously crouched in front of her as she did it again. It was something on the roof of her mouth.

It looked like a little ball embedded in the back of the roof of her mouth. He saw it spark while she blew out, and it blew some flames into his face. He was so thankful he was safe like this. He wondered if he'd be safe if he had eaten a water logia fruit, if one even existed. Would he evaporate from the heat and turn to steam? It was an interesting thought.

Another break was taken as she took a short nap. Doing all of this was clearly tiring, but he'd only stop her when she wanted to, unless it was clear it wouldn't be healthy for her to keep going.

When she woke up, Ace decided to raise the difficulty. He blew out a large stream of fire. "Can you do that?" he asked with a grin, knowing it might irritate her. Of course she could! She narrowed her eyes and opened her mouth wide, blowing out a massive stream of fire, which crystalised the sand.

She fell asleep after that, not even being awake long enough to eat a treat. Like the day before, he carried her back to the ship, sleeping. Only he was startled when he heard a voice shout, "Is that a dragon?!"

Ace froze, but soon recognized the voice. Damn drunkard. Ace really didn't want Shanks to see Ivy and scare her, so he sprinted back to the ship, the dragon secure in his arms. He was much faster than Shanks, who followed after, shouting that he just wanted _to see it! _

But Ace got to the ship and sprinted up the plank and inside to his room, and locked the door. Looked like they'd need to find another stretch of beach tomorrow. It was later in the day, and neither were too hungry, so they waited for dinner.

He knew Shanks was still out on deck, _begging _Whitebeard to tell Ace to let him see the dragon. Whitebeard refused and kicked him off the ship and into the water, done with his childish whining. Really, how he was a yonko made him incredulous sometimes.

Ivy had woken up sometime while Shanks was still on deck, and somehow heard him, for she tried hiding under the bed. Ace hadn't known she could hear that well. Well, it was only a few walls between their room and the deck.

Ace grew angry with Shanks, and was glad Ivy had been asleep during the chase, for she would have been freaking out. What a silly girl. A dragon that was afraid of people. It really should be the other way around, Ace mused.

He didn't try to drag her out, he just laid down next to the bed and stroked her head with his hand under the bed. When Shanks left, she seemed to know and left the bed, rubbing her head against Ace's, who had passed out from his narcolepsy. Ivy was used to it.

The first time it had happened, she was a baby in her old bed bowl on the desk. She freaked out and started screaming out cries until Ace woke up and reassured her that he was fine.

-x-

Ace and Ivy were at a beach that was extremely far from the place they'd been practicing before Shanks for them. He hadnt seen or felt his presence while he and Ivy ran down the shore to the furthest area they could that was still open.

They found a nice cove with rocks surrounding it so they were out of view from anyone that wasn't in the water. He was still teaching Ivy how to breathe fire. Yesterday seemed to be a fluke. She hadn't done it like that again. She was able to breathe out little puffs of flame that extinguished quickly.

He had a feeling she could master fire very well. After all, her mother was able to keep a blue flame lit even while she wasn't around to refresh it. But they still had four days. He hoped that would be enough. He was still having her practice controlling lighting herself on fire and the flash. Those were still pretty good.

The flash seemed to be mastered, but she still emitted heat if she got too excited. It would be uncomfortable for the others and would warm the area, but it didn't seem bad enough to burn the skin or damage any objects. Thankfully.

-x-

Again, Ivy was having trouble with the fire, but the flukes happened more often, so Ace had hope she could do it in the three days they had left. Marco had flown over to visit and see Ivy's progress, and was pleased with her control.

He had brought Thatch's sunglasses this time so he could watch Ivy's control over the flash. That's what is was now called apparently. "The flash". Sounded cool and appropriate enough. After a few minutes, Marco left when Ace asked. He didn't want Ivy distracted at all. Marco wasn't offended, and left, only coming back to bring them both lunch.

Ivy was being fed a lot more than she had been, which made the others even more painfully curious about where Ace was going and what he was doing. But the place they'd found was so secluded that the curious pirates wouldn't find them even if they started looking.

By the end of the day, Ivy was feeling down. She felt like she was doing a bad job and disappointing Ace. So she sat on the sand and looked down after Ace said it was time for them to go back.

Ace walked over to tell her he wasn't made or disappointed, since he could tell she was discouraged. But right when he reached her, a crab came out of the sand and crawled over Ivy's toes. She jumped, startled, and roasted it in flames.

Ace was right that her flames were special since the crab stayed on fire as it died. Even when it got washed away, it stayed on fire. Ace cheered loudly and picked her up, tossing her in the air once and then catching her. She trilled, so happy Ace was impressed and she'd finally done it.

She didn't have much control, but it seemed like a natural defense mechanism. The dragon thought the crab was going to hurt her, so she killed it before it could try. Ace walked into the waves up to his shins to pick up the flaming crab corpse, but not deep enough to be bad for him. The crab was charred by now, but was still hot.

Ace was even more amazed when the crab finally turned to ash, the flame stayed intact, resting in his hand. It had cooled, but hadnt been put out. He walked to Ivy and crouched in front of her. "Can you extinguish this?" the young man asked. Ivy looked confused and cocked her head, not recognizing this word. "Put out the fire. Like I do." He lit his hand on fire before making it disappear.

Ivy got the idea and stared the flame down, narrowing her eyes until it disappeared. She looked up at Ace, who was grinning at her. He rolled her over and attacked her furry belly with his warm hands. He knew she liked this, and she squealed at it, pushing at his hands as he tickled her.

"I think someone deserves some honey sauce, don't you?" he said as he carried her back to the ship, following the coast again. Her eyes widened at the thought of the honey sauce and she licked his chest where she could reach. "I'm proud of you. I'm sure you'll do even better tomorrow now that we know what causes it."

-x-

Whitebeard was happy to hear that Ivy made some progress, since he knew they'd hit a wall, but Ivy made it over it. Marco was there and was glad as well. He knew that Ace had been right that day. He had trained- no, _raised,_ her to not only behave well, but teach her how to control her powers. Not to mention the way he'd taught her basic skills like walking and running.

He never thought Ace, especially at 19 years old, would be able to raise a baby _anything_. Especially something that was far out in uncharted territory.

-x-

Ivy sat in front of Ace on the sand. He held up a crab between his fingers. It was trying to get away, but he had a firm grasp on it. "Does this scare you?" She looked away, indignant. "Everyone is afraid of something. And it's not a big deal. I want you to be truthful. Does it scare you?" Ivy nodded slowly. "Do you want to get rid of it?" She nodded again.

"Then burn it. Think about that fear. You don't want to be afraid of it, right? Burn it. Defeat it so you can move on. This crab is your enemy at the moment," Ace said seriously. Ivy stared at it nervously. She felt it was stupid to be afraid of it, but Ace wasn't really surprised. Ivy had rarely been around other animals besides birds and fish. So this unknown creature was startling and scary.

She breathed fire at it, hot flames that accidentally lit Ace's shorts on fire, which he was surprised about. Ivy looked shocked for a moment before she extinguished it willingly. Ace was glad his shorts didn't burn much. Just a little hole at the bottom on the left leg. She patted his shorts with her toes, looking ashamed.

He didn't acknowledge it. "You did it! Now, do you remember the feeling that it was giving you?" She nodded. "Did you feel good when it was gone? Remember that feeling when you want to breathe fire. Remember the feeling you felt when you surpassed and kept yourself safe."

"Do you want to try again?" Ace asked as he stood up. Ivy nodded her head, and turned to face the rock wall. She walked up to it closer and stared at it. She was imagining this big wall as a large crab. She wanted to get rid of it. She took a deep breath and narrowed her eyes, blowing a massive stream of fire at it, melting the rock to scalding liquid. This time, it extinguished. She wanted it to before she even blew it.

She looked at Ace, who was grinning bigger than he had in a long time. She trotted over to him as he ran to her. "I'm so proud of you," he said as he hugged her to his chest. "Let's go home now."

**Yay! Ivy did it! Shanks isn't in the main story much, but I'm thinking of maybe making a really short story about what he thought when he saw Ivy, and when he secretly peeked at their training. **


	7. So It Begins

**WhiteyWolf26: Thanks for another review! Geez, you're putting out better ideas for the SH's meeting than I wrote! I should say that they do end up meeting two separate times, under very different circumstances ;)**

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**Now, the story picks up. Not much fluff anytime soon! Shorter chapter, though. Enjoy~**

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**Update: adding the next chapter on to this one since it's way too short. **

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Even though Ivy couldn't fly yet, she was strong enough to help deal with marine ships. She had mastered her dragon abilities over the four months. She practiced every day with Ace, even though she was fine and had even figured out some tactics by herself.

The first time a marine ship played chicken with them, Whitebeard had tested Ace and Ivy's teamwork because it was invaluable to the crew. Ace had only agreed because Ivy was giving him a hurt and angry look when he wanted to refuse letting Ivy go. She was still small even though she was almost one and now the size of a small dog. Still, she wasn't as big as her mother had been.

But he was convinced by her to let her come, and she hung off of Ace's back as he leapt over the side of the ship and onto the other. The marines clearly thought it was easy picking, but they barely got any look at the dragon before Ace shouted, "Flash!" and the marines started screaming in fear of their loss of sight.

Everyone on the Moby looking over had sunglasses. Once it was revealed that she could blind someone, everyone had bought sunglasses for emergencies or situations like this one.

Ace burned the ship down while Ivy blinded the others. She was shot at once, but turned up the heat around her so hot it melted before impact, with the heat spreading so it gruesomely melted the skin off the marines before they turned to ash.

Ivy let the ship on fire with Ace, only her flames didn't dissipate once they destroyed whatever they had burned to nothing. The blue and white fire grew and spread quickly, taking over the inside of the vessel, exploding windows out with the intense heat that no one besides Ace and Marco could survive.

It was over quickly and Ace and his dragon easily jumped over the side and to the Moby Dick as they watched the ship quickly disintegrate. Those who hadnt burned already were on fire. It wasn't a nice sight, but they had asked for it by attacking the Whitebeards. What idiots.

Everyone watched, fascinated, when the flames floated on the water, slowly moving with the current away from their ship. Ace looked down at Ivy, who was looking at him in question. She didn't know if he approved or thought it was impressive. But he did, and crouched down and rubbed under her chin.

"That's my good girl," he said softly. Ivy jumped up and stood up to her back feet, reaching up like a child would to be held. So he did and hugged her tight. The others all looked at the adorable scene, and Ace saw them. He didn't blush, because he wasn't embarrassed about his affection for the dragon he was still raising anymore.

"Want some more practice today?" Ace asked as he brought Ivy to the kitchen for some treats. They were moderating her intake since they didn't want her to gain any extra weight, though she was like Ace and could eat as much as she wanted and not gain weight.

They had found out she was stealing food during the night. A cat flap was made in Ace's door, though she mostly stayed with Ace. Since she had small opposable thumbs with her other little toes on her front feet, she had been pulling open the fridge and climbing up to get meat.

She had been forced to eat vegetables as a punishment. It was a very useful one, which was also funny.

Ivy nodded at Ace's words. "Marco, we're gonna practice some more!" the young man called as he walked to the upper deck. Marco followed them and transformed into his phoenyx state. Ivy had been trying to learn to fly for over a month. It was the hardest thing for her to learn yet, and they wondered how she would have learned if she was still in the wild.

Marco was there to catch her if she blew away from sudden strong winds or fell. Both had happened. The first time she'd spread her wings completely, they were surprised by the wingspan. It was at least six feet from end to end. Before that, no one had really realized how long they were since she'd always had then pressed to herself.

Ivy spread her long, black and thick-feathered wings, and jumped up as high as she could. The wind caught her in one wing more than the other and she was thrown off balance, spinning backwards while screeching until Marco caught her. That was what happened almost every time.

The dragon ran forward to try again. And again, and _again._ Marco and Ace were very patient with her since she truly tried her best every day, and it was essential for her to learn. "Wanna try with the rope?" Ace asked as she sat down, gloomy that every try was a fail. She nodded, but didn't like the rope. It was like cheating.

She dropped down onto the lower deck, gracefully landing, and walked to the mast. There was a rope that wrapped around it, and when Ivy's body was tied to one end, she was lifted up to try and glide the wind while also not having the risk of being blown away. Even with this, she performed poorly.

She spent a few hours trying, before she had Ace lower her back down and untie her. She laid down and put her feet over her eyes in shame. Why couldn't she learn? Ace looked at her sadly. He stroked her back, and gently played with the thick feathers on her furled wings. "You'll learn, Ivy. We know it. It just takes you awhile. You learned other things very quickly, just because this isn't doesn't mean you should feel ashamed or lose hope."

Ivy didn't feel reassured. "C'mon. I'll go massage your wings," he said and lifted her up. Her wings got sore sometimes after being hit by a strong wind on one wing and not the other. He took her to the library, where it was always quiet, and laid her down on his legs while he sat on the couch. He gently rubbed the skin over the bones, and straightened the feathers that had moved out of place.

She always purred from this, and it helped lift her mood. Ace knew she would learn. She clearly didn't think so, but Ace thought she improved every day. Just a tiny bit. A second longer of not being blown away. A second earlier getting up and trying again. She'd get it. The dragon just needed time and help, which was what she was getting.

Marco had told her when she first failed, that it took him years to perfect his flight of his devil fruit, which reassured but also worried her. It was normal for her to not learn to fly quickly? But she didn't want to have to wait years to be able to do it. Flying looked like so much fun, and she could catch the birds that fly above the ship often.

-x-

Thatch walked onto the ship with his division members hauling the massive stock of food up the ramp and to the storage room. Ivy pitter-pattered over to him, asking for a treat. Thatch looked around before he opened a little box from a restaurant. A glazed takoyaki ball descreetly went from his hand to her mouth. She chirped in thanks and then ran to behind the nearest mast and quickly ate it. Thatch chuckled at it and continued walking with the food carts.

After the food was all properly stored in either the kitchen or storage room on the side, he went out on deck to show everyone what he'd found on an apple tree on his way to the market. Most of the crew was gathered out on deck, taking advantage of the nice weather with the breeze.

The dragon reached Thatch first, smelling something strange. She jumped onto the man's shoulder and looked at the dark purple _thing._ She only jumped up onto Thatch's shoulder. She didn't even do that with Ace, which had surprised everyone. She had come to like Thatch and not just because he fed her yummy food. He would play with her when Ace wasn't around for the short whiles.

And she also played pranks on Ace. But not mean ones, definitely not ones that would upset him. She would never do that.

"It's called a devil fruit," he said to the dragon perfectly balanced on his shoulder. "You eat it and it gives you powers." She let out a puff of smoke. "Yeah, like your dragon powers. Ace and Marco have devil fruits. That's how Ace uses fire and Marco can fly." Ivy made a cooing sound of interest. She looked at his face curiously. "I don't know if I'll eat it, but I'm gonna show everyone."

Ivy jumped off of his shoulder and followed behind him to Ace, who was playing cards with his old first mate, Izo, and Haruta. The dragon pat Ace's arm and looked to Thatch, and his eyes followed. "Hey, Thatch, you got a devil fruit!" Ace called before Thatch could say anything to anyone. He grinned.

"Yep!" Everyone crowded around him, looking at the fruit while Ace held Ivy in his arms so she could see and not get stepped on by someone.

"You gonna eat it?" Izo asked curiously. Thatch shrugged and said he didn't know yet. Pirates then cheerily guessed about what it might be. They came up with the stupidest powers they could think of, with Marco confirming some of the useless fruits.

Ivy felt something bad from outside of the crowd, but saw nothing bad. It was just Teach. She went back to listening to everyone talk and laugh enthusiastically.

-x-

Ivy wandered around, trying to find Thatch for some treats, but she couldn't smell him anywhere. But there was some weird, bad odor from the back of the deck. She ran over to it to see what it was, only to freeze in horror as she watched Teach holding a bloody knife, with Thatch laying on the deck, gasping.

The dragon saw red as she suddenly flew to Teach to burn him to ashes, already flashing. But he was gone in a black cloud, and she couldn't even smell him anymore. She let out a loud, blood curdling shriek that got the attention of everyone on the ship. It was as loud as that mama dragon's roar had been all those months ago.

Ace came first, and stared in horror at Thatch's still body for a second before running to him and picking him up, sprinting with him to the infirmary. He was losing a lot of blood, and the infirmary was far. He set him down and did the only thing he could think of. He burned the wound closed, getting a pained scream from the cook.

"I'm sorry!" Ace called as he sprinted with Thatch in his arms, Ivy sprinting after him, able to almost keep up. Ace kicked the infirmary door open and laid him on the bed on his stomach, shouting for the doctor on duty to come. She shouted in the pipes that lead to pops, Marco's and the other nurse's rooms.

Even by himself, the doctor treated Thatch, immediately getting him a blood transfusion, and cleaning the messy burn. He told Ace it was quick thinking and might have saved him, but he had lost a lot of blood.

Ivy had jumped on one of the beds next to Thatch's to watch in worry. Her eyes were watery, and she was scared and furious. Teach tried to kill him! And Ivy hadnt gotten there quick enough. Ace turned away from his bloody friend and grabbed Ivy, holding her tightly against him. He knew Ivy might have saved Thatch by getting someone's attention.

Marco ran into the room, followed by the captain. "What the hell happened?! Thatch!" Marco shouted, only to be shushed angrily by nurse Layla, who was the head nurse who was helping with Thatch.

"Ace brought him in, ask him," the first nurse, Tami, said. Marco and Whitebeard looked to him, but he shrugged and looked to Ivy.

"Did you see what happened?" Ace asked quickly, getting a nod from the dragon. "God, I wish you could speak," Ace muttered. Then he began questioning her. "Did he get stabbed?" Ivy nodded. "Did you see who?" Steam came from her nose in fury. They all took that as a yes. "Someone betrayed us?" Ace asked in a horrified whisper. One of his brothers betrayed them and tried to kill Thatch.

And whoever it was possibly did. Whitebeard spoke next. "Get every single person on this crew out on deck. Now," he told Ace and Marco. Whoever it had been had to still be on the ship. "Get everyone!" Tami asked him to be quiet, and the man complied. No one messed with the nurses.

Ivy chased after Ace and Marco, pushing open the swinging door as she passed Whitebeard, who looked at her in thanks and sadness. What did she see?

"EVERYONE, GET ON DECK!" Ace and Marco boomed, getting some other commanders to do it, too. They had no time to explain why, but the other commanders trusted the two and rounded up pirates as well.

By the time everyone was on deck, the commanders knew no one else with inside due to their haki, Whitebeard had stormed out. "Ivy, who was it?" he demanded. She looked at each and every crew member, but she already knew Teach was gone. He'd disappeared, but how would she let the others know?

She looked up and shook her head. "They're not here?" She shook her head again. "Who is missing?!" Whitebeard boomed. The commanders counted each of their members. Someone in Ace's division was missing.

The second division commander looked at the face of each member, and noticed who was missing immediately. "Pops, Teach is gone. Ivy, was it him? Did he stab Thatch?" Ivy nodded. The other pirates started freaking out, asking for information of what happened.

Ivy screeched and ran towards the crime scene, followed by Ace, with Whitebeard chasing as well. He hadnt run in a long time, but he was still quick, his footsteps very loud. When they all arrived, they saw the devil fruit laying on the ground, a bite taken out of it. Ivy ran to it and touched it with her foot.

"Find out what fruit this is," Whitebeard said to Marco, who had a book of devil fruits that Thatch had borrowed. Did he know what the fruit was? The phoenyx disappeared into the ship to find it. "Ivy, thank you," Whitebeard said sincerely. Ivy nodded her head with a chirp.

Ace crouched in front of the dragon and hugged her, tenderly, not the tight hug he'd given to her in the infirmary not long ago. "You might have saved his life, Ivy," Ace whispered. He knew Ivy was saying "of course" when she licked his cheek. Neither focused on the fact that the dragon had flown, even if it was a short distance. "I'm gonna kill him. I won't let him get away with this," Ace growled, not talking to Ivy anymore though they were still hugging.

-x-

"It's called the Darkness Darkness fruit. And it's alarmingly overpowered," Marco said to the commanders, all situated in the infirmary, keeping Thatch with them even if he couldn't talk or hear them. He was stable, but only because he was on life support. Ivy was sitting at his feet, listening to everyone talk. "It controls darkness, able suck in things, defy gravity.. It negates devil fruit powers, as well. It also creates some sort of alternate dimension. He most likely created a portal to there and that's where he went. Right?" the first mate asked Ivy, who nodded.

There was silence for a few moments, before Ace said, "I'm gonna find him, and kill him. He was in my division, so it falls onto me to punish him. Mutiny, betrayal, and trying to murder a member of the crew are the worst crimes that can be committed on a ship. Pops, let me go."

The captain stared at him for a moment. "You'll go even if I tell you not to, won't you?" he asked seriously. Ace nodded, keeping eye contact with his father. The captain sighed. He, too, wanted revenge and justice on Teach for what he'd done. And Ace was a capable pirate.

"Alright."

-x-

Ivy laid on the deck, angry and moping. Ace had just left, without her. If she could fly, she could have gone with him! Now he was off by himself, not knowing where Teach was or what he was planning.

She was not happy with Ace when he told her she wasn't going with him. She was so angry that she blew fire at him, though of course it didn't hurt him. He had sighed. "I love you, and I wont put you in danger from me going off on a long and probably hard journey. I promise I'll call every day to report, and talk to you, okay? I'll be okay," he had promised.

Ivy had cried a little bit as he lowered his Striker down into the water. She wished she could have told him to be careful as she watched him speed away off into the distance. Thatch wasn't here for her, and Ace was gone. She felt lonely, and mostly laid by herself on the deck, away from everyone.

She only made contact with others at evening when she knew Ace would call. He had told her about how he'd seen his brother and his crew. He told her about the amazing winter island with giant bunnies on it. About the weather, and how easily he'd defeated the enemy pirates in  
Paradise. He had also reported in from fishman island, where he'd gotten his Striker coated. He told her about the island made of bubbles, and all of these stories just made her wish she had gone with him.

It was lonely at night in Ace's room, so she had been allowed to stay in Marco's room at night, just so she didn't feel all alone while going to bed. Her treats didn't taste as good without Ace or Thatch giving them to her.

When she did eat treats, they were not made right. Too sweet or not enough. Only Thatch could make them perfectly, and he was still unconscious in a hospital bed. She visited him every day, wanting him to wake up and comfort her about her worry and loneliness.

And then, a little over a month, Ace stopped calling. And he didn't answer when the crew called him. After that, Ivy wasn't doing well. She was so stressed all the time that her tail feathers were falling out.

Marco did his best to assure her that everything was alright, just that Ace dropped the transponder snail in the ocean after falling asleep. He did his best to distract her by telling her stories about the things the crew had done together before Ivy came.

But all stories have to end.

Then the nightmare started. She brought the newspaper to Marco at the dinner table before she reluctantly ate her food after the News Coo dropped it off. Of course Ivy couldn't read, so she didn't know the title of the main article on the front cover. But she did feel the fear suddenly gripping Marco.

When he ran from the room, Ivy followed behind. They were heading towards the captain's room. It was early morning and he hadnt woken up yet. Sleep was hard, with one son in a coma and another missing, he slept in if it meant getting any sleep at all.

Ivy growled when the door was shut in her face. She scratched at it, but no one let her in. And she couldn't reach the handle or open it with such a heavy door. So she listened as best as she could.

"Pops, we- we have a problem."

"What is it?"

"It's Ace. Look at the paper."

Whitebeard gasped. "He's going to be executed?" he asked in horror.

"We have to go save him. He's no doubt being help in Impel Down. Two weeks from now."

Ivy was already running down the halls before the captain told Marco to not let her find out.

-x-

Ivy stood at the end of the ship, on the railing. She had always been able to tell where Ace was on the ship. It wasn't that she smelled him, or heard him. She just could always tell where he was. And she knew which direction he was. All she had to do was get there.

Looking down at the waves below her, she spread her wings as wide as possible. It was now or never. She jumped.

-x-

"Ivy! Where are you?!" Marco called, not finding her anywhere on the ship. She was gone. She had heard through the door. Damn her intelligence! Why did she understand them so well? Ace was going to kill them once they saved him.

Marco didn't know if the dragon had been able to fly away, or had fallen into the water trying. Either way, Marco knew she was gone already. She wouldn't even know which way to go! She should have stayed and they could find Ace together!

Marco kicked the wall in frustration, leaving a hole. But no one came since they were all panicking about the announcement of Ace's public execution at Marineford in two weeks. He didn't know if they even had time to get there.

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**I hope Teach dies a horribly painful and humiliating death in the cannon since I'm getting riled up about it again after watching Shanks talk to WB about him. DIE TEACH. FOR FOREVER. Review!**


	8. Ivy's Lonely Journey

**WhiteyWolf26: You'll just have to wait and see. Only a few chapters left! Makes me a bit sad, but I'm not planning on writing a sequel. All things must come to an end (except One Piece, which will ****probably still**** be around even a****fter we're all ****dead lol.)**

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**This chapter was one of my favorite to write. It;s a shorter chapter, and only involves Ivy (mostly). And there is some really satisfying parts in this one, I think everyone will be happy. ;) **

**Enjoy~**

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Ivy wavered in the air, but she was flying. It was difficult, very difficult, but she couldn't fall or she'd die. She would never see Ace again.

The wind was on her side, and she flew in a straight line towards where she felt Ace was. She didn't know what Marineford was, or what Impel Down meant, but apparently that was where she was going, since Ace was there.

It was cold up high in the air. She got wet from the clouds, but she flew above them. She didn't want to see the ocean. It was scaring her. If she fell into that water, she would die, and Ivy didn't want to be reminded of that constantly by seeing it the whole way.

Plus, she'd seen some ships during her first six hours of flying, and the dragon didn't want to be shot down. It was hard to focus on keeping herself steady, and she didn't need any distractions from that.

After the first eight hours, she was flying smoothly, using the wind to carry her. This was nothing like being on the rope. It was amazing, and terrifying at the same time. She passed a couple birds, flying at high speeds without even trying to.

Eventually, she caught a bird and did her best to chew it without using her feet to hold it. She needed to stay balanced. When she flew, her legs seemed to raise up naturally until they were pressed to her belly, not hanging down as she went.

All she could think about was Ace, and changed the worry to seeing his excited face when he found out she had been flying so well. All by herself, too. The lessons didn't help, she just needed incentive and to practice doing the real thing. She could have been doing this all along if she'd tried getting rid of the safety nets. Maybe Ace would have taken her with him if she could fly.

Well, now he had no excuse to not take her on missions. She'd save him. She had to, and if it wasn't her then the Whitebeards would. And if Ivy ran into Teach on her way, which part of her wanted to, she'd blind him and then burn him to ashes. He was the reason Ace left, the reason Thatch was still hurt. It was all because of him. All because he wanted that stupid fruit.

If Thatch hadnt found it, would Teach still have killed him? And Ivy should have been faster when she came across Teach stabbing Thatch. She should have ran from the start! Not just stare at him until it was too late.

-x-

The first island she passed over didn't look inviting at all. It was made of ice and fire. She would be fine with either, but it looked intense, and Ivy didn't want to stop there. She was getting tired, so stopped flying and just glided at slower speeds, trying to not fall asleep. It was night time already, and that sea gull was a long time ago. She was hungry.

She lowered herself down through the clouds to see the water. Maybe if she got close enough, she could catch a fish. So she flew just above the water, more confident in herself about flying. She just barely missed getting out of the way from a sea king trying to eat her. She screeched and climbed back up into the sky.

She could wait for the next island.

By the time she got there, she'd flown through a storm. Well, above one. It had been very cold up there, and she had to light herslef on fire to be warm. But she didn't get hurt in the storm. And thankfully, she could now take a break at this little winter island.

Marco had said she had two weeks. Was that a long time? She had flown a lot, but how much further was he? She wanted to see him again. Was he okay? Oh, she was so gonna bite him next time she saw him safe.

She landed in a tree, with strange leaves. But, even if she'd never hunted her own food, instinct took over and she caught a small rabbit in the snow. She followed the trail and came to a little nest. After eating the bunny, she poked her head in and saw a bunch of baby bunnies. She didn't want to eat them, but it sure looked warm in there.

The baby bunnies were _not _happy with Ivy pushing her way inside. She barely fit. The bunnies only stopped fighting when Ivy warmed the space inside. The dragon slept for a couple hours, and woke up rested. It was late morning, and she left the now widened nest. She found a squirrel and ate that. Thatch's food was much better. She didn't like the fur in her mouth.

She flew off again, heading in the same direction she had before. Soon the island was gone and Ivy was above the clouds again.

-x-

She didn't reach another island, only what seemed like a shipwreck raised above the water. The journey was tiring, and she didn't feel like she was going anywhere, and would never reach somewhere. The ocean was just so vast, and was all there was to see.

The dragon missed three meals a day plus treats. Now, her stomach rumbled all day. The squirrel felt like days had passed. It was late in the day, and she decided she'd sleep at night, and fly during the day.

So her sleeping place was a perch of wood sticking out of the water. It was scary, thinking about the monsters she knew were in the sea, but she eventually fell asleep.

-x-

The flying long distance with rarely stopping hurt her wings. They felt so sore. She had wasted two days already, feeling like she's gone nowhere. Could her family even make it wherever Ace was with how slow the Moby Dick was? Maybe it was a good thing that she left. No, it _was_ good, but Marco and the others might not think so.

But if Ivy reached Ace first, at this "Impel Down" place, and saved him, they'd be happy she left. And Ace would be happy to see her. She missed him, but she'd make him proud and would save him. And stay alive out here, all alone. She was thankful there werent monsters in the sky, and only in the ocean.

-x-

It was another day, with another rest of a couple hours, before she hit some sort of wall. It was incredibly high, but, now that she could fly on her own, she just headed upwards until she reached the top. The top was above the clouds.

Whatever this wall was, it was barren on the top. In the distance, she saw a city. It was sparkly and clean, with towers of white buildings. But for some reason, she didn't want to visit that place. It gave off a bad feeling, and she could faintly hear sobbing and screaming. And cruel laughter. No, she did not go over there. Food could wait.

It took about half an hour to reach the other side of the wall, and finally see the sea again. Only this time, it didn't seem as scary. The water was the same color, but she didn't feel it was infested with monsters.

Flying west, she came across a large mass of fog. Ace wasn't in there, which she was thankful of. It was scary looking. She turned slightly so she was more parallel to the wall, though it was no longer in sight.

She smelled before saw and heard a ship. It was slowly sailing at a leisurely pace, an hour away from that big mass of fog. There was food on this ship. She'd never really seen a ship like this one. It was colorful. Ace and Thatch would think it was funny.

There were a few people on the deck, which was surprisingly _grass_, and there was a grill being tended to by one of the humans. It was right out in the open. She could snatch it easily. Before anyone even noticed she was there, Ivy had chomped down on a piece of semi-cooked meat, along with grabbing something else in her grip, knocking the grill over. Then she was off, before hearing, "Hey, you stupid bird, that was for Zoro!"

"You idiot, he's in a coma, he can't eat!"

Then Ivy was away, glad she could eat the piece of meat, along with a piece of bread, which she scarfed down. It would have been nice if she could have came across that ship at night. Then she could have rested there.

-x-

The island the dragon assumed Ace had talked about being made of bubbles was in front of her. It was evening, getting dark, and she was exhausted. Landing clumsily and bouncing on a few bubbles, she was out like a light. The bubble trees were extremely comfortable. Too comfortable, because she woke up in the morning! That wasted half a day, stupid bubbles!

She swooped down and stole a kebab from a vendor under the trees. Like the colorful ship, no one noticed her until it was too late, and she was too far away for them to do anything to get their food back.

Ivy flew back up to the bubble trees and sat while she ate so she could use her toes and little opposable thumbs to hold the stick that had cooked meat on it. She was more in favor for raw meat, but food was food and she couldn't be picky now.

Heading off again, she flew for another three hours at high speed. Day four. How long was a week? How long was two? Was she running out of time?

The dragon was almost too distracted to notice a pungent smell coming from a small ship. It only had a few people on it. Her eyes widened and smoke came from her nostrils as she recognized that voice. That _traitorous voice. _

Ivy didn't even disguise her presence, and landed heavily on the single yardarm above Teach and his weird looking friends.

"What the hell is that?" a man with hoop earrings, a hat, and red lips asked. The others looked up, but Ivy only had eyes for Teach, who looked at her in horror. Before any of his crew could say or do anything, they were each on fire. Blinded and burning, screaming bloody murder. Ivy couldn't care less.

"Sh-shit!" Teach shouted before he opened that black portal again. But Ivy could fly now, and was so much faster. She heard what this fruit was, and that it would be dark inside. She flew inside the black matter just before it closed.

Everything was dark, until she lit herself on fire. Black matter seemed to squash her on all sides. She suddenly couldn't light herself on fire, or blow any out. She could faintly hear Teach's ugly laughter from somewhere.

The laughing ended once Ivy became as bright as a star, like she had that day Marco was blinded. Only it was ten times brighter, and the darkness suddenly dispersed. If it was only light, no shadows or darkness could be there.

She was no longer pushed at from all sides, and saw very clearly, Teach, kneeling on the ship. Both of them were back in the real world. The ugly fat man was shocked, his eyes hazy. Good, he was blinded. Ivy would _make him suffer._

Extending her talons, she swooped down on him and scratched his eyes out. He screamed and threw his hands around, trying to hit her. She then landed on his shoulder, skyrocketing her body temperature, and therefore the air around her. She watched with a hard stare as Teach's skin began to melt. He screamed even louder in agony.

Ivy left him alive, though. Long enough to push him over the small ship's side, knocking the devil fruit user in the sea to let him drown. But, on second thought, she dived, seeing through the water easily. She tore through the water and brought her talons across Teach's throat, flying back out and leaving a cloud of blood.

_There_. She'd avenged Thatch. If Thatch died, at least his murderer was gone, too. The dragon had also unknowingly avenged her mother.

The little ship was now empty of anything, as the little crew had burned into nothing, the flames from them spreading out into the sea. She laid down on her side and dozed away. There was no food on this ship, which she was disappointed with.

-x-

Flying had become the easiest thing Ivy had ever done before. Even easier than walking. She was meant to be in the sky, and couldn't believe any future where she couldn't be above the clouds.

Of course in this situation, she was still worried sick about Ace, now wondering how long she'd been flying. How close was the Moby Dick? Had they made any progress? Ivy finally felt like she'd made progress. Could feel Ace closer than before. But, he was still too far for her. Much too far. She belonged next to him. She'd find him, and would never let him leave her again!

-x-

Another half a day passed, and she saw a few marine ships. Was she getting closer? She stayed high enough that she looked like a bird to the marines. She did want to ruin their ships, but just wanted to get there already.

If they got in their way, Ivy could easily destroy them. Plus, she couldn't see any food on deck, so there was no point in stopping. She had had enough revenge with Teach.

The sea had begun to calm under her, no current anymore. She did see monsters in the water, swimming about lazily. It scared her, and she headed to the only thing she could see. A large ship, with two big serpents on the front. They scared her. Like the crabs had, only this was worse and they were _much_ bigger.

They ignored her as they swum, seemingly happy. No monsters bothered the serpents from below. It was getting late again. Ivy _knew _she was closer to Ace. She had time to rest. Just for a little while.

Landing on the crowsnest of this dark ship with red sails, she suddenly froze. Looking down, she saw humans. But they were different. They were smaller, with long hair. She remembered seeing some like this on her ship, but these all looked much different. They didn't look anything like her family. Were they a different type of human? _Were _they human? They didnt have the same shape as the nurses she remembered. These ones also seemed to give off a different vibe. She was confused.

The dragon heard them speaking the language Ace and everyone did. Ivy wished she could get a closer look, but didn't want to risk anything, though she didn't think these _things _would hurt her.

She stayed quiet up there, accidentally dozing off, and didn't notice the mysterious thing that climbed up the mast to the crowsnest the little dragon was inhabiting. Her eyes snapped open when there was a gasp in front of her.

The thing had green hair and a wide face. What _were _they?! But Ivy was off, flying far away into the darkness, barely hearing a surprised shout before she was gone and the ship was no longer visible.

Ivy was rested just from that little stop, no matter how short it had been, and grew closer to where Ace was. There were more marine battleships, though they didn't have any lights on. Ivy knew she shouldn't burn them down. Not yet, or they would know she was there.

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**HAHAHAHA! I killed Teach painfully. Don't know if Ivy's light would actually defeat the yami yami powers, but who knows? Not much is known about it's weakness (if it has any). This takes place maybe a day before Sabaody. I sorta ignored the Duval part. So, The Strawhats were almost to Sabaody. **

**The Kuja pirates had been off somewhere and then Hancock came back in the Amazon Lily arc, so their ship is heading back to their island when Ivy meets them. She didn't recognize them as women based on their appearances as she hadn't ever really seen the women on the Moby, and they were wearing clothes, not just bikini tops, lol. And Teach was on his way to Impel Down, where he broke in once Luffy arrived. Next chapter is the Impel Down chapter! Hope Teach's death was satisfying! Review!**


	9. Impel Down

**WhiteyWolf26: I did add the shorter chapter the the end of chapter 7, since it was so short. You weren't scatterbrained. ;)**

**symonator: Thanks for the detailed review! I'll admit that I did rush the last few chapters, as I was losing my mojo. Long fics often do that for me, but I wanted to finish this one because I wanted it to be completed, and thought people would like it (which they did!).**

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**Enjoy~ A/N at the bottom this time. **

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A large building came into view, just barely sticking out of the ocean with another handful of marine ships. They had no lights on either. Ivy landed quietly on the deck leading to a huge door. Wherever this was, she knew it was bigger on the inside. She heard screams. Worse screams than the city on the big wall she'd crossed over. It made her fur and feathers stand on end.

Was Ace one of the screaming? He was so close now.

Ivy silently padded to the huge door, and put her foot against it, lighting the whole thing on fire. She made the flames small and quiet. They would still burn the door into nothing, but this way, it wasn't super obvious.

She flew silently through the little hole she'd burned already. It was much brighter in here than outside. But the lights were dim. But she could feel and hear little things on the walls. Live things. Were they watching her?

The dragon flashed, but nothing happened that she could see. But, anyone could be around the corner, and screaming was still going strong. She couldn't kill everyone, so she'd just blind anyone who saw her. Well, it would be the last thing they saw.

Coming across a hallway, Ivy flew down it, blinking light frantically. There were people in these cells, but no one screamed as they were all asleep. She followed where she knew Ace was quietly. She was then spotted by a blue… thing. It had some sort of weapon, so Ivy didn't hesitate to light it on fire and move on.

But the thing was making quite a bit of noise. As long as she got Ace, the dragon didn't care if she leveled the whole place into the ocean. So she raised the temperature of her body like she hadn't ever before. Even worse than it had been while she melted Teach. She spread out the heat until it was like a small sun was tearing through the halls, melting the walls and wavering the air. Anyone or anything that came into contact with the dragon disintegrated. Even the snails on the walls shriveled into dust.

She had unintentionally destroyed _some _parts of the cells in some, so that anyone still alive after her passing was able to escape. Well, try to. The air stayed scalding where she'd come from.

Alarms began to blare, in the distance. Any alarm she passed had been destroyed instantly. Those blue monsters seemed to have no sense of self-preservation as they ran head on into her mini sun.

Soon she was out of the halls, and had flown into an open space. Forests were below her, but they were red. Then she could tell where the screams were coming from. It was the humans on the surface of this place. Then she saw that the grass was red as well. But shiny. _Blood. _

Was Ace being treated like this?! Just the thought had her growing hotter. Screams of men in uniforms were heard as they saw Ivy zoom across the open space above them. Guns were pointed at her. She didn't have time to deal with them, so she blinked brightly. Predictable exclamations about not being able to see anything echoed around the open space.

Ace was below this. She flew towards his presence, and didn't hesitate to plunge into a dark hole. Down and down she flew. She still scorched the walls around her, but lowered the intensity enough so it was still scalding right around her body in case anyone shoots at her, the bullets can disintegrate before contact.

Yet, she saw no one in this place. It was brighter, and warm. And barren. Very quiet. As she flew above it, she saw that most of the floor was a maze of halls and stairways, full of sand. If she weren't a dragon, the heat would be very uncomfortable.

There were strange animals below her, wandering around, or even speaking. She didn't know animals could talk! But there was no time to wonder at such things. She'd already caused a commotion so there were probably people after her now. She had to free Ace from wherever he was being kept.

Ivy dodged a net that came flying at her. With the next one, the rope fizzled away the moment before it hit the dragon. These people might be in the way back out, so she swooped down and blew the whole floor on fire with her blue flames. It spread across the level, burning people and giant animals alike.

There was no room for pity or sympathy here. Ace was trapped in this place, and she'd make as many people pay for it as she could. She left the creatures to burn into dust as she ran towards an immense area of heat. She landed on a stone wall and looked down at an inferno. The red liquid boiling was a horrible smell that she recognized. All of that was _blood?!_

These humans were despicable. She dived into the scorching area, not bothered by the heat. There were people in the boiling blood, screaming and trying to get out. Ivy wondered how people can be so cruel to do this to others. She flashed, blinding guards she saw looking up at her in shock.

As they screamed in panic of the loss of sight, she heard some stumble into the boiling blood. But she didn't care. These people deserved what she was doing to them. Suddenly, a mass of purple goo flew at her. She doged at the last moment, and looked around to whoever had thrown it.

It was a big man with strange horns on his head. He was dripping in some substance, looking up at Ivy in shock. After all, no one knew dragons existed. This man would be dangerous. Ivy flew towards him and breathed her blue flames across him.

Thinking he was dead, Ivy sped away, looking for the way down, closer to where Ace was. But what looked like a dragon head made out of the purple goo went after her. She snarled in irritation and let loose the sun power again, evaporating whatever it was.

"Who are you trying to save?! No one escapes Impel Down!" he boomed. Ivy flew down and landed on the stone walkway above the boiling blood. She stared at him, sporting a majorly unimpressed expression. He growled at her and some sort of smoke cloud came from his mouth.

Whatever it was had moisture in it, though not much. But enough that contact with Ivy's heat bubble made them evaporate. The goo she'd doged before had dripped through the stone. Some sort of poison?

Hearing more alarms and more soldiers approaching her location, she flashed as bright as possible. As bright as she had to negate Teach's darkness. She leapt into the air after hearing the big man scream. He was blind now. There were now a lot of blind people in this place. The big man fell into the blood inferno, unable to see Ivy burning a hole in the stone below him.

Ivy couldn't quite figure out how to get down the rest of the way, so she burned through the floor again and dropped down into a freezing place. She shivered. There was no island the Whitebeards had gone this cold since Ivy came. With Ace's feeling just being below, it didn't help with her finding a way to get there. She could faintly see a large door on one side, and flew that way. The dragon hated this cold, and wanted to be out of it soon. White wolves looked up at her curiously, but none chased her.

She flew straight into the large door, breaking it open, to meet many human guards. With a man wearing a very strange ensemble, holding a pitchfork. They stared at each other for a short moment, the enemies looking shocked at the dragon in front of them. She wondered why, considering there were other rare creatures in the floors above.

Disposing of these humans as well, she flashed. More screams as she burned the now-blind people. She felt no pity for them. They might be in the way while she escapes with Ace. The dragon didn't think she could carry Ace by herself, especially with how tired she was and how sore her wings were.

Finding a staircase rather easily, she spiraled down it smoothly. Making sure to not damage the passage way, she landed on the end of the stairs. It was dark in this area. And quiet as well. Besides the alarm blaring on the ceiling, and footsteps coming down the stairs. Ivy wondered what to do. If she damaged the staircase, it might be hard to get back up. If she blinded them, then they'd all be piled on top of each other and hard to move.

The men he could see seemed to be low level and terrified. Maybe Ivy could scare them away. Get them out of the way of the stairs, and burn them while they werent inside.

She spread her wings and gave a loud, high pitched roar, raising her upper lip and widening her eyes. She let flames spill through her bared, sharp teeth. They wavered, hands shaking on their weapons. Ivy snarled at them, stalking towards them.

Like the low leveled guards they were, they ran back up the stairs. Ivy chased them up, and once they reached the top, Ivy gladly burned them to nothing with her body heat. They were gone just like that, while the stairway remained undamaged. People were still on the ground, blinded from her earlier attack.

Speeding back down, she flew above the cages that had loud inmates, or ones that just grumbled. She was above the cells, so no one had any clue there was a dragon above them. Except one.

-x-

"Looks like something's going on," the fishman sharing Ace's cell said in a bland voice. Ace just sighed and nodded. He knew it wasn't his family breaking him out. He couldn't sense their presence, but then again he was locked in seastone cuffs, so those might dampen his observation haki.

More screams than usual were heard through the building as alarms went off. Those in the cages around them voiced curiosity. They hoped to see something new, since there was absolutely nothing to do in level 6 but wait in the quiet.

"Wonder if someone is breaking out," Jinbei said. Ace didn't react. He was very depressed down there. Not just because he was going to die. Not just that the whole world was going to learn about his bloodline.

He lied. He lied to Ivy. He said he'd come back safely. But no, he got caught. He would do it again if he had to, to protect Luffy, but he wished he had at least defeated that traitorous pig. God, he hoped Thatch was alright. He had to be.

He also lied to his brother. He would die. It was a foolish promise to say he'd never died. What a cocky, irresponsible child he'd been. To take on that kind of vow like it was nothing. What a fool.

After Ace died, Thatch could take care of Ivy, and Luffy's crew could take care of him. He just wished he'd gotten to introduce Ivy to Luffy. He had been so interested and jealous when he was told about the dragon island. The Straw Hats then vowed to find that place.

It went quiet upstairs for a moment, before there was the sound of boots clacking against the stone floor. Had the trouble maker made it all the way down here? He craned his neck, hoping to see something, like the others were doing.

Then his eyes widened impossibly large when he heard the high pitched roar he'd heard not many weeks ago. "No… No way," he whispered to himself. He wouldn't get his hopes up. He wouldn't. It was probably one of the creatures from level two that somehow made it down. Ivy couldn't fly and was in the New World.

There was no way. The boots clacked up the stairs, running from whatever made that noise, then all was silent. Everyone held their breaths nervously. Was that monster down there with them? Criminals like Crocodile looked uninterested in whatever was happening, and not caring if some kind of monster was there to kill them all.

Then she landed in front of the cell. A pleased trill was made as Ivy saw her favorite person in the world. He stared at her in shock as she easily melted the bars to the cage.

"Ivy…?" Ace asked through his parched lips. She ran over and hugged him briefly, before she only heated her foot up to impossible heats, surpassing the heat of anything on the surface of the planet. Ace felt the burns as the sea stone melted from his wrists.

She backed away and watched as Ace stood up with a grin. He swooped down and hugged her tightly. "You are in so much trouble!" he shouted, though without any real bite. She licked his face.

Jinbei just looked shocked at the live dragon. He had thought Ace was just telling stories, but there was a real, _live _dragon in Ace's arms. His kimono was scorched from the heat Ivy had made to melt the cuffs.

Ace put her down and hurried to break the chains around Jinbei easily now that he was free.

"C'mon, let's go!" Ace called, pulling up the still shocked warlord. Ace ran down the halls between the cells, ignoring shouts of shock and begging to be let out. He looked up as Ivy flew above him. What happened? How did she end up here? Where were the others?

It was easy running up the stone stairs, Ace ignoring the little piles of ash at the top of the stairs, though he was pretty sore. He had an idea of what they were. He was surprised at the lack of reinforcements in the next level.

Ace looked at the elevator. Could they make it up? Or should they just keep going up the stairs? As if Jinbei could read his mind, he shouted, "The stairs are the safest!" and ran up in front of him. Ace followed, with Ivy flying above them and around the spiral staircase. Jinbei still couldn't believe he was right below a dragon.

Suddenly, there was a swarm of guards Ace and Jinbei could feel and Ivy could hear and smell. "Jinbei, fall back!" Ace said, stopping on the stairs. Jinbei looked at him like he was crazy, but Ace was just grinning. Jinbei noticed that the dragon - Ivy - hadnt stopped.

And all of the sudden, it was quiet, and Ace ran ahead again, with Ivy waiting at the top of the stairs. "Where did they all go?" Jinbei asked uncertainty.

"Ivy took care of that for us," Ace said simply and they continued up the staircase. It was extremely uneventful, and quiet despite the screams. But they werent the prisoners, they were the guards that Ivy had blinded, since those she set on fire were long gone by then.

Ace and Jinbei were expecting the warden to come after them at any moment, but he never did. "Ivy, did you take care of the warden? The poison man?" Ace asked through his breaths from the sprinting. The dragon turned to look and blinked heavily. "Blind?" Ivy nodded and Ace sighed in relief. He was weak. Malnourished and tired, not to mention sore from the beatings, he knew he wouldn't be able to fight against the Warden. "That's a relief." Ivy chirped.

After running up the never ending staircase, they came into the long hall. There were some men sobbing, staring at nothing. They'd either been in the control room, or unfortunate to be in direct contact to the flash.

"Why aren't they attacking?" Jinbei asked through his pants.

"Ivy - blinded - them," Ace gasped out. "We - gotta get outta here. The button, right?" Ace questioned, meaning opening the gates of justice. Jinbei confirmed that they'd need to pull the lever and then get away as fast as possible before someone turns it back off. But neither saw anyone capable of doing _anything _at the moment.

Even the guards that had been looking through the blinded camera snails had lost their sight. Must have been a very bright flash. Ivy stood outside the door, guarding Ace it seemed. He easily pushed the level and counted on it that the gates would open. They had to somehow get a ship.

Ivy growled when they left through the destroyed door and saw how many ships were waiting for them. "Ivy, can you take care of it? Show me what you can do," Ace said with a smile. Jinbei hadnt seen Ace ever smile that bright. Ivy flew up and lit herself on fire until the air around her warped from the intense heat, and she flew straight into the surrounding ships, blowing them up from the middle. Some of the ships dissolved while others just fell into the ocean. Jinbei watched in shock as the small dragon destroyed a fleet of battleships.

Ace was already boarding an empty ship that seemed to be just waiting for them. Ivy destroyed the ships at the dock, only leaving the one Jinbei and Ace were on intact. She landed down in front of Ace, clearly exhausted.

"We're almost out, Ivy. Then we can go see everyone," Ace said kindly, picking her up, watching intently as the impossibly big gates opened for them.

"This is crazy," Jinbei said. When he turned around to look, he saw no one following. No one was even at the dock trying to stop them or call for backup! The dragon kept her eyes open and wide, looking around though there was nothing to look at after they passed through the gates.

"Ivy, you can rest now," Ace said softly, and the dragon was out like a light. Ace was sitting down with her in his lap, looking at her missing and damaged feathers. "I'm sorry," he whispered. Somehow Ivy had made it from the New World into Paradise and finally to Impel Down. Just to save Ace, who had the blood of a demon. He kissed Ivy's dirty, furry head.

* * *

**Only two more chapters left and then it's over. :( Bit sad, but there most likely won't be a sequel, as I almost didn't finish this one. I'll be honest, I did rush, like I said in the comment above. Things might seem too easy. I ran out of ideas, and just did my best to finish it. The rest doesn't suck (at least I don't think so), but some might see the action quality a little lower. So, I hope it doesn't bother anyone too much. Though some (WhiteyWolf!) might thoroughly enjoy the outcome of this chapter. **

**But, also, Ace deserves to have things go right after the hell he was put through in Impel Down and the embarrassment of losing to someone as rotten as Teach.**

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**I know it wasn't the best chapter, but with only 2 more left, a total of about 11 pages, I hope you finish it. And I did my best to keep the mapping and floors of Impel Down as they were in the cannon. Such a terrible place omg.**


	10. Reunited

**WhiteyWolf26: There is this chapter and then the last and it's over! Luckily, Luffy doesnt go through all the trouble of rescuing Ace, but it does mess up the entire cannon timeline, but it's a fanfiction, so I hope people don't think about that fact too much! lol. Next chapter, we'll see what happens with the wanted posters. Thank you for keeping up withthis stroy! You're reviews made my days. **

**Starelight: Thank you! I wonder if they would give an unknown creature a bounty. What if they gave Surume a bounty? Think that would happen, lol?**

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**The story is almost done, with this chapter and a short epilogue, like I do for most of my stories. everyone is back together again! Jinbei is still a big character in this chapter. I hope you enjoy~**

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A few marine ships did chase them after a while, but Jinbei took care of them. They weren't going to make Ivy do anything more. She'd done enough. Jinbei easily destroyed them by tearing their sails with his water abilities. Ace was in no condition to fight.

Ace had been jailed for longer than Jinbei. And beaten much more. But they were smooth sailing for a couple hours, heading _some_where and waiting for Ivy to wake up so she could guide them back to the crew. She had found Ace somehow, so hopefully should could get them back.

-x-

Ivy opened her tired eyes, momentarily forgetting they'd succeeded until she realized where she was laying. She saved Ace! Now they could be together again! She nuzzled his bare but bruised chest. He looked down at her and stroked her head and back.

"Thank you," he said quietly, getting a trill from his dragon. "Do you know how to get back?" Ace asked. Ivy shook her head. She only knew where Ace was. The dragon didn't know how to get back. Ace didn't make any face that would look disappointed. Ivy had done spectacularly to get there and he wasn't about to make her feel bad for something.

Jinbei was at the mast, fiddling with the communication device inside an indent in the wood. He wondered if marine snails could contact _anybody_. Could they reach the crew from here? There was a rotary dial after all.

"Ace, come over here," Jinbei said, gaining the young man's attention. He got up and walked over, carrying Ivy in his arms. "You know Whitebeard's number, right?" he asked. The fishman would be surprised and disappointed if he didn't.

"Yeah. Can this call him?" Ace asked hopefully as he looked at the snail inside the mast.

"It has a rotary dial. Might as well try. I'm sure we'll get a call from the marines sometime. I am surprised they haven't already," the fishman mused. Ace reached for the den den mushi and picked up the speaker part, dialing his father's snail.

Would the crew look down at him for getting caught? Teach was still out there. Ace was embarrassed with losing to him. He held up the speaker nervously. He couldn't help but think, in the back of his head, that they wouldn't want him back. Or they'd demote him from being a commander.

Ivy put her foot on Ace's leg, noticing his uncomfortable expression. She trilled at him and licked his leg. He seemed to relax a bit from her actions. Jinbei watched the little black dragon with a faint smile. What a brave and sweet creature.

"_Hello?" _Marco's voice asked, in a sad, tired tone. Like he hadnt slept lately. Ace said nothing for a moment. "_Hello?" _the phoenyx asked again, irritation in his voice.

"Hey, Marco," Ace said. He heard the speaker fall and hang up. But he was immediately called back.

"_ACE?!"_ he exclaimed, shocked to be called from him. They were just leaving fishman island, and his words echoed down the halls. Everyone near who heard him ran towards the room that now held the main den den mushi.

"Yeah," Ace replied, wearing a smile at the uncharacteristic happiness in his shout.

"_You got out? How?!" _Then Ivy made a loud trill. Silence on the other end. "_Is- is that Ivy?" _

"Yup. She flew all the way to Impel Down and broke me out. Most of the jailers are either dust or blind, and we're not being followed. We're just sailing in no direction," Ace explained.

"Don't give out too much information. The marines may be listening in," Jinbei said. Ace nodded and then told Marco that Jinbei was with him as well. Marco was silent on the other end, most likely shocked by the whole thing. He had thought Ivy was dead. Had drowned or gotten lost. How did she find him in the first place?!

"Where do you want to meet up? I don't want to wait another moment to see everyone!" Ace said with a grin, not able to help his moist eyes.

Marco laughed on the other side, and the three on board the marine ship heard sobbing and laughing in the background. Ace grinned. Though he felt bad for how much fear and stress he must have made them feel.

"_The place it all began, yoi," _Marco said. Ace knew what he meant, and Jinbei did as well. The island that Ace and Jinbei had fought and Ace confronted Whitebeard. But they had no log pose to get there. But there had to be some sort of tracker on this ship. Jinbei left to inspect further.

"We don't have a log pose with us," Ace replied, wondering how it would work. He heard Marco's _hmm_ as he tried thinking of some way to defy the Grand Line's laws.

"Ace! I found an eternal log pose for each island on the Grand Line," Jinbei said with a grin. Ace laughed.

"Well that's convenient!" Ace exclaimed. There was laughter on the other side. The tears had stopped apparently.

"_There's someone who wants to talk to you," _Marco said, and Ace knew there was a smile on his face. The next voice brought tears to his eyes, and made Ivy jump onto Ace's shoulder and trill once they heard who it was.

"_Yo, Ace, Ivy. I'm alive!" _Thatch exclaimed, though he clearly wasn't completely better, but he had woken up, since he coughed after speaking too loud. Ace had tears coming dripping down his face. "_Ace, Ivy. Thank you. You two saved me," _Thatch said sincerely. The dragon chirped back, drinking in the praise while Ace just grinned. Ivy hadn't liked being alone for the last couple days. It had been much too quiet, so high up in the clouds.

"I wasn't able to kill Teach," Ace said in embarrassment and shame, with only a touch of anger. He was surprised when he heard Ivy made chuffing noises. Was she laughing? Laughing at Ace? But the young man knew she wouldn't do that.

The dragon jumped down and did the pose she made when she was proud of something she'd done. Ace looked at her strangely. No way… How did she kill Teach? He had that power of darkness, so how did Ivy defeat him? Ace couldn't even do that!

"Ivy, did you find him?" She nodded, and nodded once again in reply to Ace asking if she'd killed him. Ivy turned to Jinbei and made a shooing motion with her foot. Ace understood, and told Jinbei to face away, so Ace could make sure he was right in his thinking.

Ivy flashed, so bright it hurt Ace's eyes and made him see spots. He thought about it for a moment. Then he got it. She had made light, and light would have defeated darkness, and surely blind the traitor. Then she warmed her surroundings that melted the deck, before she turned it off to not have much damage.

"_Ace? You still there? We don't think lowly about you for not killing him. We'll get him eventually," _Thatch said darkly. Ace heard a female voice came and tell Thatch he had had enough and needed to go back to bed. He huffed at it before Ace spoke up, sporting a grin.

"Well, Ivy says she blinded and melted him already. Damn, _I _wanted to kill him," Ace said in mock disappointment. Ivy chirped quietly below him, looking at him sadly. "I'm kidding, Ivy. I'm very proud of you and you saved a lot of time and effort. Plus, you're the one who caught him in the act. Maybe it's right that it was you to kill him." By the end, Ivy was back in a good mood. It had hurt that Ace didn't like what she'd done, but she was assured again.

"_We'll see you in a while, yoi. Report often, and don't lose the den den again!" _

"Yes, sir," Ace laughed, and hung up. She went to Ace and jumped up, flying around his head, chirping for his opinion of her flying. "You just keep impressing me." She trilled and landed back on his shoulder, her wings tucked back again.

Ace hadnt really thought about Ivy getting so strong. Dragons were supposed to be powerful, and the strength of that parent dragon so long ago was strong, even if it had seemed like most of it was just her size. The young man had seen Ivy when she was a weak baby, and maybe part of him had held onto that belief for so long, not even knowing he was thinking it. With Ivy being this strong while also still being young, Ace had to wonder how Teach was able to kill Ivy's mother.

The man hadnt had the devil fruit yet. Well, now that Teach was gone and Ivy's mother was dead, he would never know how it had happened. Maybe Ivy's mom hadnt been as strong, since Ivy didnt look identical to her, she also might not have had the same powers.

He hadnt wished for a dragon guide in awhile, but now he really wanted one.

Well, those thoughts of Ivy being a weak baby for forever were gone now. And would stay gone.

-x-

Ivy sat on the head of the ship, liking the feel of the wind. Ace was asleep on the deck behind her, having had a sleep attack. Jinbei had known about it from Ace's suddenly passing out in the cell.

She turned around at the smell of food for her from a plate Jinbei carried out. The three were grateful the ship had an abundance of food on it. Neither pirate of warlord were good at cooking, so they just ate all the non-perishables where Ivy got to eat all of the meat.

She chirped and trotted over the the plate of raw meat, digging in immediately. She couldn't wait to get back home so she could have some of Thatch's treats! She had grown fond of Jinbei when he had moved Ace to a bed in the interior of the ship. He also pet her her a lot, gentle despite how much bigger he was than her.

The fishman was fascinated with the dragon. She was not what he had expected when Ace told him stories about his dragon and the island he'd visited when he found her. She was too small and cute. She had no scales, just black fur and feathers. And her face wasn't scary at all. It was rounded and innocent looking, with big blue eyes. He didn't use the term "cute" much, but this creature sure was.

They arrived at the island easily, only a couple sea king attacks and one lucky but unlucky marine ship that had found them. But, with Ace and Jinbei back at full strength, Ivy was content to just watch from the railing as the two destroyed the ship easily, with those on board burning or drowning. The smaller of the three sea kings was made into dinner. Ace could just cook it with his flames. But that was only good for this kind of food, he had no idea how to use a stove.

-x-

They finally made it to the island after a week of sailing quickly. The wind was good for them. They were having a lot of luck. The escape and lack of reinforcements the most. Well, the luckiest thing was Ivy's arrival.

The dragon flew off the ship and to the shore before the hijacked ship made it. All of the pirates came running off of the ship and through the sand to tackle Ace down in hugs and tears from many. Ivy watched for a second before she sought out who she wanted to see and flew to Thatch in his wheelchair.

She landed gently on his lap, rubbing her face against his like a cat. "Hey, little girl. I heard you broke into Impel Down," the man said with a smile. Ivy sat down on his lap, facing him, and nodded. She jumped on her toes twice when Thatch revealed the baggy of treats. There werent many since he had been caught making them and got in trouble for leaving bed in the middle of the night.

She scarfed them down. "I bet they didn't taste right when the others made them, did they?" Ivy nodded her head vehemently. They had been gross. "Everything will go back to how it was before. That sound good?"

It really did. Ivy looked behind her at Ace and made a happy chirp watching how much attention and affection Ace was getting, and how it embarrassed him. He did like the hug he got from Whitebeard. The family was back together again. How it should always be!

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**It's almost over! Makes me a bit sad. :(**


	11. Epilogue

**WhiteyWolf: Thanks so much for commenting on every one of my chapters! It means a lot to me. :) Hope you enjoy the epilogue.**

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**Here it is. The end. I hope everyone enjoyed, even if the Impel Down chapter was a bit rushed. I had so much fun writing this story. Enjoy~**

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After the breakout and utter humiliation of what was left of Impel Down, Jinbei, who had left already, and Ace had their bounties sky rocket. There was no photo of Ivy, since she'd ruined the camera snails immediately, but there was a reward for her at the bottom corner of Ace's new wanted poster. All it said was ten million berries for Fire-fist's pet. Thankfully, she wasn't offended with the wording, though it would be nice if it said friend or partner. But no one on the ship thought of her as a pet, and that was what mattered to her.

After Ace got back to full health and went back on missions, you could always see the black blur keeping up with him on his Striker. She was a powerhouse on the crew, despite being an animal, and was essential to some missions. Especially the ability to blind everyone. The crew had all gotten thick sunglasses when they found out, just in case carrying them in their pockets.

"Alright, everyone, this is Ivy," Ace said, finally introducing his dragon to his brother and his crew. Luffy and Usopp just gaped at it, while Chopper had stars in his eyes. Zoro and Sanji both seemed a bit unimpressed. Ace glowered at them for it.

Sure, Ivy wasn't the most intimidating looking dragon, but she could still whoop their asses in a heartbeat. Zoro _precious_ swords would melt away in an instant, and Sanji's leg would be so burned he'd be unable to ever use it ever again. They were weak compared to his Ivy, they should take her more seriously!

Ivy sat in Ace's lap as she was talked to by the other pirates. She had hissed at Brook, a sound Ace had never heard her make before. Well, Ace couldn't fault her. The talking skeleton was indeed unsettling. The other two didnt really seem to care much, as both Nami and Franky sat off and didn't interact with Ivy. Ace had to explain what women were to Ivy as she'd been a bit confused on the subject regarding the Kuja pirates and how Ivy had never been much around the nurses.

That cracked Ace up, but embarrassed Ivy, so the subject was quickly dropped

But, it was Robin who really clicked with Ivy. She sat down while looking at the dog sized dragon when Ivy got off of Ace and wandered to Robin to sniff her. The woman hesitantly put her hand on Ivy's head, and after getting an encouraging nod from Ace, she stroked the fur and feathers.

"You're very beautiful, Ivy. And familiar… have we seen you before?" Robin questioned. Ace blinked twice. Ivy had never been near the crew before then. Ivy made chuffing laughter and nodded her head. Those still paying attention couldn't recall when they'd ever seen this very memorable _dragon._

"Ivy says, 'When I was flying to save Ace from prison, I found your ship and stole some food. Luffy said that it was Zoro's food, but he was in a coma and couldn't eat. Then I flew away'," Chopper said. Ace and Ivy both looked at Chopper like he was the most amazing creature they'd ever seen, and was then the translator for Ivy to nag everything she'd ever wanted to say to Ace through him.

It was enjoyable, and really, Ace thought Luffy would be much more interested in her. But she was too tame looking, he guessed. His brother was unpredictable. At least Ivy got to spend some time with women who liked her, and was able to talk to someone _literally. _Ace hadnt really thought about how annoying it would be to be unable to speak to anyone around you.

But, they would all meet again someday, and have another little party where Sanji fed her takoyaki balls. And then, Ace would let Ivy fight them. They werent ready to be up against Ivy as they were now.

Man, they would hate if Ace told them that, so he didn't. They moved on and back to their home ship to continue their adventures as one. Minus a very melted, blinded, and drowned traitor.

Ivy and Ace never separated, and no one could, no matter how hard they tried. Finding and keeping that little baby dragon had been the best, and most impulsive, decision Ace had ever made.

-The end-

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**Proud papa Ace is so cute. I'm working on another dragon fanfiction, though quite different than this one. don't know when it will be done, but I'm on page 235. Thanks for those who stuck with this story for a while!**


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